Photo by Samantha Davis. Wabasso mayor Brad Pitzl drives through a parade Saturday afternoon for the cities' 125th weekend celebration. Vesta also celebrated 125 years over the weekend.

With local communities coming together to enjoy a plethora of attractions, vendors, parades and more, Vesta and Wabasso both celebrated their 125th anniversary over the weekend. The two cities had a successful turnout celebrating its deep-rooted history.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” Vesta resident Jean Gladitsch said. “Everything just really came together.”

Vesta had nearly 20 vendors signed up to participate in the weekend, along with a kids’ tractor pull, volleyball, inflatable houses, live music, fireworks and more.

“It’s very humbling. Last night (Friday) was phenomenal,” Gladitsch said. “(The) maintenance man had to go grab some (more tables) from uptown and bring them down here, because we needed more seating space, which was great.”

Children’s laughter filled the surrounding area making their way through the inflatable obstacle course, while there was also a kickball tournament going on in the distance and sand volleyball saw a busy turnout as well.

“(It’s going) pretty good. We heard (about Vesta’s celebration) from a friend of ours … We decided to come,” Chalyn Felton said, one of the vendors with her husband Chad Felton with their company Lightner Creek. “We love doing vendor shows … It’s just fun to try new places.”

The Felton’s said they come from Danube, where their business is also located about 40 minutes away from Vesta, and mentioned they enjoyed seeing the Vesta celebration and being able to be a part of it.

Sparking interest from the public, Chad and Chalyn were offering samples of their body care products they make of whipped tallow, lotion, soaps, beard balm and chapsticks.

Other vendors were offering homemade treats, clothes, keychains and accessories, clothes, home decor and more.

The community sense was strong around the Vesta grounds, with several volunteers helping to run the activities for people to partake in, all while having good weather the entire weekend.

“The food truck that was here did fantastic, they actually had run out,” Gladitsch added. “But, the fireman ended up grilling burgers.”

Gladitsch said she also attended Vesta’s centennial celebration 25 years ago, and was happy to once again see so much of the city and others make their way out to enjoy the fun.

Vesta also had a Minnesota Fallen Heroes Display inside the community center, which will still be up this week until 3 p.m. Friday, along with museum items for people to take a look over a large part of its history.

The community of Wabasso also showed up big during its festivities, including a parade Saturday afternoon.

As nearly 70 floats made their way through the city, local community members could be seen cheering on and calling out to their friends and family as they passed by.

Even for those that travelled from outside the area to see the celebration, the cheerfulness that filled the air was evident.

“I think it’s awesome,” Madisyn Kuehn of Mankato said. “There’s fun things going on, like it doesn’t happen all the time, so everybody shows up. I love it, I think it’s really fun. There’s the food trucks, nice weather and the parade, it’s great.”

Along with the parade, some of Wabasso’s festivities consisted of a petting zoo, a 5K run, an all-school reunion, and it also had live music, around 20 vendors and fireworks.

Wabasso’s vendors also offered a wide variety of goods, across the street from an all-day softball tournament, while other activities took place around the surrounding blocks.

“It’s such a nice day out, and this is like the best weather I’ve had for an outdoor pop up,” Kuehn said, who runs Charmbar where people can create their own bracelets, necklaces, pins and more with dozens of charm options.

Keuhn said she has family that lives around the area, but was visiting Wabasso for the weekend and noted she continues to be impressed with smaller-town communities and their togetherness.

Amongst the numerous vendors at Wabasso was Barbara Wendt with Norwex that offers microfiber towels and household and personal care products, who also expressed that seeing a good turnout of people around the city was uplifting.

After the three days of fun, both Vesta and Wabasso had a successful weekend celebrating their cities’ milestone age by creating more memories with one another as the summer begins to come to a close.