Jane Foltz’s house is “parade central” on the Thursday of rodeo week in Abilene each year.
The Abilene woman and her husband, Casey live on Third Street, on the parade route, and several dozen of her friends and family members take advantage of her prime spot.
When she and Casey moved to town from rural Abilene in 1990, they began their tradition of a parade party. They invited others, set chairs out on the lawn, and planned a picnic. And the tradition has continued.
People get “one invitation forever,” Jane laughs, meaning that once someone is invited, the invitation is good for life. Jane and Casey provide the meat and drinks, and folks bring potluck. After the parade, they dig in to the meal, including goodies from Jane’s sister’s garden. “I have a sister with a wonderful garden, and she brings okra, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, and always does taco salad. We have this great picnic, then everybody goes to the rodeo.”
The Central Kansas Free Fair and the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo have always been special to Jane and Casey. Jane grew up outside Enterprise, Casey in rural Abilene, and both showed in 4-H livestock shows. The fair and rodeo “was a big deal to us as farm kids, because we got to come to town, and spend the week in town. And when you’re farm kids,that doesn’t happen a lot. We enjoy the fair, parade, and rodeo, and that’s what inspired us to do it every year.”
When their kids were young, she and Casey took them to all four nights of rodeo. “It’s what we did for our vacation. The kids grew up going to the rodeo every night, and we went to the fair on the nights there wasn’t a rodeo.”
Now the kids are grown and have moved to their own homes, but they always return for fair and rodeo week. “It’s kind of been a tradition. The relatives all come, the lawn chairs are in the yard, and I put red and blue bandannas on my fence. That makes it fun.”
Trees planted when the couple first moved to town shade the yard and provide a pleasant place for the forty to sixty people who gather at the Foltz’s to watch the parade. And Jane loves it. Her favorite part? “Seeing the relatives, friends, and neighbors, everybody coming together.”
This year’s Abilene rodeo parade is Thursday, August 1 at 4 pm. The theme is Blue Ribbon Memories. The Central Kansas Free Fair runs August 1-6, and the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo begins at 7:30 pm each night, July 31-August 4. More information on the rodeo can be found at WildBillHickokRodeo.com, and on the fair and parade at CKFF.net.
“Good seats, good shade trees,” Jane said. “It’s an easy tradition to do.”