'Party on the Bricks' to kick off Quasquicentennial

Mild temperatures and partly cloudy skies are in the forecast for this Saturday, along with sporadic showers of ping pong balls. 

The McCook Quasquicen-tennial Committee is planning a "Party on the Bricks" celebration on West C Street between Norris Avenue and West First Street.

The party kicks off at 3 p.m. with a ping pong ball drop. Thousands of specially-marked ping pong balls will be dropped from the sky, as kids and adults alike scramble to retrieve the ping pong balls and collect a prize or discount from the participating merchants.

Ping pong balls can be redeemed at the merchants' business including Wagner Ford-Mercury-Toyota, Wagner Chevrolet-Buick-Pontiac-Cadillac, Sports Shoppe, McCook Daily Gazette, Top Office Products, Schmick's Market, Sehnert's Bakery and Bieroc Café, Longnecker Jewelry, McDonald's Restaurant, McCook National Bank, Modern Cleaners, Deveny Motors, D&S Hardware, Eakes Office Plus, Peterson Jewelers, Runza Restaurant, Hershberger Music, Kildare Lumber, Country Floral, McCook Eye Clinic, Hometown Family Radio, Country Whimsey, Brown's Shoe Fit and VK Electronics. 

The ping pong balls will be dropped by age division -- Pre-kindergarten -- 2nd grade; 3rd-5th grade; 6th-8th grade; 9-12th grade; and adults. The Quasquicenten-nial Committee is marking one grand prize ball in the adult category for a trip to SolVista, Colo., for a choice of a winter skiing or summer golf outing, as well as spending money. The trip is provided by Hometown Family Radio.

Any man who wants to compete in the beard growing contest needs to come to the Party on the Bricks at 5 p.m. to be publicly shaved by some of McCook's finest stylists. Beard-growing contestants will grow their beards until the Heritage Days Celebration Sept. 29-30. 

The party will continue into the night, with Blackwater Haze performing from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Blackwater Haze is a local favorite and consists of Russ Ankersen and Mike Schoup of McCook, Terry Peterson of Westerville, and Darryl Quick of Hastings. They play a mix of '50s and '60s, classic rock and country.   To close the night's festivities, Slingshot will perform from 8:30 to 12:30 a.m. Slingshot was formed in March 2006, pulling together the best blend of country musicians in south-central Nebraska. Slingshot's repertoire consists of top 40 country hits, plus classic country and classic rock hits.

The McCook Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a beer garden and several vendors will be on hand to sell food and non-alcoholic drinks.

The party on the bricks is one of several events planned throughout 2007 to celebrate McCook's 125th birthday.