Benny Westcott and Scott Swanson
With the exception of one glitch, Sportsman’s Holiday went off without a hitch over the weekend, organizers and public officials said.
The glitch was an accident in which a Corvette in the burnout competition during Cut the Gut on Friday evening veered off course and struck spectators, sending some to the hospital.
“Other than that, it went pretty smooth,” said Police Chief Jason Ogden Monday. “The fireworks, the parade went smooth. There was nothing significant to report.”
A crash that occurred at the intersection of Highway 20 and 47th Avenue Friday evening did not have any connection to the celebration, he said.
Abby Hogan was chosen Sportsman’s Holiday Queen at the coronation ceremony held Thursday evening at Community Chapel’s outdoor amphitheater.
Hogan, the daughter of Mark and Karla Hogan, was one of six court members. The others are Madison Duncan, Rylee Markell, Abby Olsen, Aytra Waggoner and Lydia Wright.
Duncan was named Miss Congeniality.
Court members got rides in classic vehicles during Cut the Gut, and made appearances at the Loggers Olympics on Saturday afternoon after appearing in the Grand Parade Saturday morning.
Details on parade and Cut the Gut entries and numbers were not available at press time.
The fireworks show on Saturday night went smoothly, Ogden said. This was the third year that the Sweet Home Volunteer Firefighters Association put on the show from Quarry Park instead of doing it off Foster Dam, so spectators were allowed into the park, off Zalkova Street.
Linn Shuttle transported one busload of spectators into the park from the Senior Center, Executive Director Dawn Mitchell said, but the Rotary Club’s on-site parking effort resulted in an estimated 130-plus cars, club member Aaron Hegge said.
“I was directing traffic and I kind of lost count,” she said. “It seemed like we had more people than last year.”
Although it took about 20 minutes for all the spectators to exit the park, people were patient and the process went smoothly, she and Ogden said.