John C. Fremont Days showcases new events, old favorites

Top: A local youth pauses while battling “a brain freeze” during Saturday afternoon’s ice cream eating contest. Below: Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg plays the drums Friday in the Chautauqua Tent. Bottom: Members of the 2022 John C. Fremont Days Board of Directors.
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The 2022 version of John C. Fremont Days is in the books and board president Barry Reker believes it was a success. 
 
“I think overall it was a very good festival,” said Reker, who also portrays John C. Fremont during the three-day event. “I didn’t hear too many complaints at all. There were just a couple of them and they are easily fixed. But otherwise, it sure looked like people were having a good time.” 
 
Reker said the attendance numbers for the two-night rodeo were up from last year. The annual car show drew 445 entries of cars, trucks and bikes.
 
“That was a record year,” Reker said. “They did have a little glitch with the computer system, but that is what happens in the world of technology. The show went on and everybody finished up with it.”
 
The park was also a hub of activity as 98 vendors, including those selling food, greeted festival-goers. 
 
“I think we brought back some of the old vendors because people want variety,” Reker said. “I think we certainly had that. We also had the bounce houses and those types of things for kids to play with.”
 
Reker credited Connie Dostal, owner of Kiel’s Barbershop, with helping the park thrive.  
 
“She is our city park director and she did a fantastic job as well as Mike Roth who is the food court director,” he said. 
 
One of the vendors was Karen Gomez of Lexington, Kentucky. Although Gomez travels to different events throughout the United States selling T-shirts, this was her first visit to Nebraska. She said she learned about John C. Fremont Days through a festival website.  
 
“I love it here,” she said. “The town is gorgeous and the friendliness of the people reminds me of back home. Some states you go to and people are kind of closed off and they don’t want to talk, but here everyone is very welcoming.” 
 
There were also some inaugural events for the festival, including the Rise & Shine Fritter Eating Contest, the Ice Cream Eating Contest sponsored by Fremont Dairy Queen and the Debby Durham Family Foundation and the Backyard BBQ contest sponsored by WholeStone Farms and Lincoln Premium Poultry. 
 
“The Apple Fritter contest might’ve been a touch too early in morning (8 a.m. on Saturday) so we might want to explore moving it back an hour or something, but it went pretty well,” Reker said.  
 
The ice cream contest featured various divisions, including at the youth level.
 
“That was a really fun contest that Charlie Pleskac of Dairy Queen put on,” Reker said. “People were getting brain freezes. It was pretty hilarious.” 
 
Reker said there were nine entries in the barbecue contest, but one had to drop out due to COVD-19 and another was sidelined due to surgery. 
 
“We didn’t get quite as many entries as we wanted, but everyone I talked to said that was pretty good for the first year,” he said. “It will grow.” 
 
The public, however, showed their appreciation for the $5 taste-testing and voting for “people’s choice.” 
 
“I just knew we would get inundated for the people’s choice,” Reker said. “Everything was gone within 15 to 20 minutes.”
 
During Thursday night’s opening ceremonies, Reker told the crowd that John C. Fremont Days won the Omaha Choice Award for the best annual local family event. He said that honor is due to the work of many groups. 
 
“To get something as big as that speaks volumes for what the board of directors do, but I can’t say it is just us,” Reker said. “There is the City of Fremont street department, parks and recreation department, police department, (Dodge County) sheriff’s department, I can go on and on down the line. It takes the entire community to really make this festival what it is.”
 
Preparations for the 2023 festival will begin almost immediately. 
 
“We’re having what we call a retreat on Tuesday night,” Reker said. “We talk about things that worked and things that maybe didn’t. The board strives to make it a great festival for everybody. We want to make it even bigger and better next year.”