T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY From left to right, members of the Gilman Sesquicentennial Committee — from left to right, Sally Kriegel, Carla Weaver, Barb Johnson, Randi Johnson, Mark Kingery and Craig Mommer — pose for a photo in front of an aerial photo of the city at the fire station last month. The Gilman Sesquicentennial Celebration is set for the weekend of July 17-19.

GILMAN — As the United States of America celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence this Fourth of July weekend, organizers in Gilman are gearing up for another milestone occasion: the southeastern Marshall County community’s 150th birthday, which will be commemorated during a three-day festival from July 17-19.

Planning for the Sesquicentennial began about two years ago, when Sally Kriegel first approached the city council about the idea before calling up Mark Kingery and asking him to come over for supper. Both of their families date back generations within the community, which is currently estimated to have a population of about 530 residents, and she joked that she would assemble “a big committee” with several subcommittees, allowing the two of them to sit back and let it all come together.

“He said ‘That sounds good.’ And it didn’t work out that way,” Kriegel said with a laugh. “So he’s been calling me a liar for two years.”

In all, about 30 volunteers are involved in the effort, and of the small group of them present for an interview with the T-R last month, all had been around for the Gilman Centennial back in 1976. Because Gilman hasn’t had a town festival since the last No River Days in 2024, the Sesquicentennial is especially exciting.

The seed money came from the Gilman Betterment Committee, which was launched by Kriegel’s mother, and $3,000 in leftover money from a fundraiser to put in new fencing at the cemetery.

“We decided we would take that as seed money and create this celebration with no intention of making money except to keep $3,000 to complete (my mother’s) wish, which was to put trees in the cemetery,” she said. “So our goal was to create a celebration that brought our town together, because we get a lot of bad publicity, and not make any money off of it.”

The festivities will kick off on Friday, July 17 with an all-school reunion from 5 to 7 p.m. at the middle school, which housed students for the final time during the 2025-2026 school year as the East Marshall school district shifts to a two-building structure with grades K-6 in Laurel and grades 7-12 in Le Grand.

“We weren’t gonna win that war anyway. That’s just rural Iowa economics,” Kriegel said. “But we’re all sad we’re losing it.”

Live music will be performed all three days: Route 66 in the city parking lot on Friday night from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m., Grand Marshall on Saturday night from 7 to 11 p.m. and Chris Stewart playing an acoustic set in the city park on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A parade is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, and at least 20 Gilmanites who are 90 or older will be recognized before it — including one who is 101 years old. A full list of events and further details can be found at https://www.facebook.com/p/Gilman-Sesquicentennial-61574944074410/.

One aspect of the celebration the organizers are particularly excited about is the chance to reunite with Gilman natives who have since moved elsewhere and plan to return for the weekend, and they hope the festivities will help to rejuvenate a sense of civic pride in the community.