There Ya Go
Last week’s Box Car Day coverage included a story I have thought about writing for a couple of years. It’s the one that focused on some businesses in Tracy and how their work lives change over the long and busy weekend.
Why did I want to include a boring, business-type story in my coverage of a fun, summer event? Well, first, it’s anything but boring. Second, I wanted to shine a light on some of the businesses in town that without them, our community wouldn’t be the same.
Imagine for a hot minute Tracy without The Caboose. Yikes. Or without Food Pride. Double yikes. And now that we have been lucky enough to have a coffee shop/restaurant downtown for three years, imagine if that building was empty. Third St. would be even more quiet than it is.
There are other great businesses in downtown Tracy for sure, but some of us remember when it was a bustling area of commerce — this was long before the terms “box store” and “Amazon” were even part of our lexicon.
The point of this column is two-fold. One, I want to thank the people who own those businesses and work there — not just because of all they offered during Box Car Days, but for what they do throughout the year.
Two, I would like to pat ourselves here at the Headlight on the back. Part of my job is to write about other businesses, but indulge me for a bit here.
Tara might be the hardest working woman in Tracy. You won’t see her byline in the Headlight that often, but don’t think for a minute that she leaves when she hits 40 hours. This woman takes on myriad commercial work all year long — from making raffle tickets and posters, to creating wedding invitations. And raffle tickets don’t just happen; it’s a time-consuming, fivestep, mind-numbingly thankless and mundane process.
And like with the other businesses I highlighted last week, Box Car Days creates some friendly havoc here, too. We (Tara, not me) saw our commerical work load double (triple?) in the weeks leading up to Box Car Days. The signs on the Miss Tracy and Chamber parade units? Tara did those. The BCD schedules — posters and pocket versions? Tara. Miss Tracy programs? Tara. Booze raffle tickets? You got it, Tara. And with Tara so busy, her mother, Carol, had to step up more than she normally does.
And as a BCD committee member, Tara was running all over the place that weekend, helping keep things running as smoothly as possible, whether it was in the beer tent or elsewhere.
She didn’t do it alone, as a number of fellow committee members and a legion of volunteers all pitched in for the big weekend. Being in business together, I was able to see firsthand Tara doing her thing, and she was all over the place. She probably would’ve mowed someone’s lawn that weekend if someone asked.
Like Lori at Food Pride, Tara was glad Tuesday came. So was I. Listen, I love Box Car Days. Growing up in Tracy, we kids always looked forward to Labor Day Weekend, without even knowing, or caring, what Labor Day even meant. Today, as a semi-grown-up, I still look forward to it, but I don’t have a ton of time to have fun.
It was nice to sit down in the beer tent with my family for an hour or so Sunday, and Tara and I did find time to break away for our traditional pronto pup, but other than that, it was a working weekend for me.
That’s not a complaint, it’s just my life, and I’m blessed to own a newspaper in my home town, the place where I was born and raised. I’m proud of every edition we put out, but last week’s makes my heart warm just a few degrees more than usual. There were almost 100 of my photos published last week, and that doesn’t count my TMB sports pics.
Like those raffle tickets, your newspaper doesn’t just happen overnight, especially our Box Car Days edition. It takes planning and execution. I’m sure last week’s paper wasn’t a flawless one (I’m still waiting for my perfect retirement edition) but it wasn’t for lack of effort.
That’s not a sick brag. Working that hard when I could be relaxing and having some fun is a testament to the love I have for Tracy. And I get to show that every week of the year.
And there’s more …
With so much going on every BCD, I am always bound to miss some things in my coverage. So I’ll make up for that now with some belated notes:
• Hats off to Jamie DeSmet for coming to the rescue when one of the midway rides went down Saturday evening.
• Same goes for everyone who worked behind the scenes for the Miss Tracy Scholarship program — the directors, volunteers and sound/lighting gurus Shawn Zwach and Cody Welu.
• Speaking of Miss Tracy, having Kayla Daniels entertain the huge audience was a real treat. Daniels sang two songs, including “I Will Always Love You,” as a tribute to the author of that iconic song, the late, great Dolly Parton.
• The Kiss the Pig contest raised $865, and there are rumors that Shane might be on the ballot again next year to defend his “title.” • There was a single horse that brought up the rear of this year’s Grand Parade. Nice touch, and I would like to think it was an homage to Dr. Warner Workman, who led the parade on a horse named Goldie in the early 1930s. Workman, if you weren’t aware, is the man who always insisted the parade begin at 1 p.m. sharp — and not one second later.
• To the TMB volleyball team. I admit, I did forget about you after I took your photo at the Eagles, as it dawned on me last Thursday that I forgot to include you in our coverage last week, so here you go!
• There are two cool things that separate BCD from other small-town celebrations — at least two things that I think are neat. One, it spans four days (and if you can believe, when BCD started in 1927, it was only a one-day aair).
Two, the fun is really spread out — from the Wheels Across the Prairie Heritage Center on the west side of town, to the softball and golf tournament to the east. Pretty cool.
• Finally, buckle up, because we’re celebrating 100 years in 2027, and word has it there’s some pretty big ideas floating around to make it the best BCD ever.
