After being forced to delay a milestone birthday celebration from last year because of the pandemic, the City of Rippey made up for it with several activities on Saturday.

The Sesquicentennial + 1 event was spotlighted in the morning with the parade and co-organizer Mary Weaver, with the Friends of Rippey, shared her thoughts on one of the main activities.

“We were so happy because we had almost two-inches of rain in Rippey last night, and we thought, ‘is it going to be able to be pulled off?’ But we had almost 60 entrants. We had a caravan of antique tractors. We had input from all over the county, (including) Grow Greene County (Gaming Corporation) came, we had firemen from other towns in Greene County. So it was a great parade.”    

Weaver talked about the contributions that everyone brought to the table to make the event as successful as it was.

“It’s one really great, great thing about living in small town Iowa, you call people on the phone and they say “yes” it’s wonderful. The vendors we got in touch with, almost all of them said “yes” to, they were eager to come. We’re just happy we had this many people that are buying their wares on their food.”   

There are also copies of the town’s historical books, including the “History of Rippey In Greene County: A Century of Growth from 1849-1956,” reprinted for $30 and “I Remember Rippey,” which is a collection of short stories, poems, essays and memoirs for $10. Contact anyone on the planning committee to purchase a copy. Pictures from the event can be found on the Raccoon Valley Radio Facebook page.