We’re nearing the end of another successful season of town celebrations and county fairs, something that doesn’t just happen automatically.

Instead it takes effort on the part of dozens of people in every community. Someone has to cook the hamburgers and bratwursts. Someone has to help people line up for the parade, and last but not least someone has to shovel horse droppings when the parade is over.

The fact that enough people come forward for these and many other celebration jobs is a real credit to our small town community spirit.

It’s also the reason why the vast majority of celebrations have stood the test of time. In my years at the Independent from 1990 to 2004 and from 2017 until now I’ve only seen three or four of them fold up.

When that’s happened it’s usually because a small group of people had to do almost everything each year. Some of them were getting older. They wanted to turn it over to someone else.

It always takes a sizable dedicated group. It’s important to remember that they do their jobs not for prestige. They just want to help the community. They work so that families with children, senior citizens and guests from other towns can have a good time.

There’s a payoff, one that builds over the years. Many of the celebrations are known regionally. Many people will drive more than an hour for their favorite events.

Someone who doesn’t attend might think that all celebrations are basically the same. That’s definitely not true. They’re each known for at least one thing in particular that stands out.

Minneota has the boxelder bug races. Tyler has aebleskivers. Ivanhoe has kielbasa. Every location has smoething that’s different.

It helps when coordinators can count on many different people to come back each year to help out. When they do a job long enough, it often becomes almost second nature.

Celebrations are an exception to the overall trends when it comes to volunteers. Many organizations need more of them. The shortage has grown substantially, with a need for younger people to step up and replace those who finally grow too old to do volunteer work.

Most civic groups want more members. Numbers are mostly down considerably from 50 years ago. It affects the amount of projects and donations a club can give to the community.

Someone could say that it’s the fault of younger generations, that they just aren’t as willing to give of their time as people were in the past.

I think there are other reasons. Daily routines have changed in ways that make it much more difficult to balance work, family and community.

Fifty years ago most women were homemakers. They had time to volunteer on weekdays at schools, hospitals, churches and other places. Most men rarely did housework other than the yard, the garage and car care. It left time to go to meetings and to work at community events.

In addition to changes in roles, couples with children have a far more regimented way of life. There lives revolve around the kids and kids activities. In some ways they don’t have lives of their own.

Another factor is work. Jobs in the 21st century are in many ways more demanding than in the past. Before computers many white collar professionals never had to type. They had less educated, lower paid clerical workers who did it all. Now everyone labors with some type of machine. For many it’s tiring work.

I think there’s hope for volunteers, however, because we have people who defy all the trends. They lead busy lives but always find a way to make everything balance out.

It comes down to the satisfaction someone can get by making good things possible. It’s still possible in 2023 to enjoy helping out. That basic truth is not likely to change.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent