Midvale Fourth of July pool fundraiser nets $5,500

The community of Midvale every year hosts a 4th of July celebration full of activities for both young and old to enjoy. This year was no different, with a parade, old-fashioned barbecue, a chance for youngsters to bring home a chicken or rooster, and goat tying and pig wrestling events all to benefit the Midvale Community Pool which is pictured to the left. These young men kept cool in their pool and helped cool down parade watchers. The night ended with a phenomenal fireworks show. Photo by Sarah Imada
By:
Philip A. Janquart
It couldn’t have gone better for organizers of the annual Midvale Fourth of July fundraiser celebration.
At the end of the night, everyone had eaten well, all the escaped goats had been recaptured, and approximately $5,500 was raised that will go toward operating the nonprofit Midvale Community Pool that runs solely on donations.
“We did great,” said pool board president Angela Dodson. “We served around 230 meals at the old-fashioned barbecue, and we had a ton of teams participate in pig wrestling and goat roping, and we added a chicken chase for the kids.”
The kids got to keep the chickens or roosters they caught, which became something of a problem when it came time to play in the pool, which was accessible free of charge in observance of Independence Day.
“They wanted to put all their chickens and roosters in my Snack Shack, but I was, like, ‘Nope, go find your parents.’”
There was a lot of activity throughout the day, including four goats that had escaped and decided to pay the park a visit. Local cowboys, however, were able to lasso them and take them back into custody.
“The fireworks show was phenomenal, the band was great, and while we had met with some resistance about changing up the times and the location of the barbecue, we got nothing but positive feedback,” Dodson said. “It was really, really good. The parade was great; we had tractors, which we haven’t had in years. They drug out an old-fashioned fire truck. We had five fire trucks in all, so it ended up being a really big parade.”
Dodson, who said the temperature was about 86 degrees with a slight breeze, added that 40 pounds of baked beans and 30 pounds of potato salad, which she made herself, disappeared before her eyes.
“By the end, we had one Ziploc bag of brisket left; that was it,” she said. “We ended up having to serve hamburgers.”
As for the money raised, Dodson said it will go for general operating expenses, which run about $10,000 per year. The board, however, has at least one piece of equipment it hopes can be purchased in the future.
“On our wish list is a different type of pool cover that is actually on a roller, so you can just roll it up,” she said. “The covers are so heavy; it takes three people to pull them off.”
The pool’s July swimming instruction session drew in 82 participants this year from around the area, blowing away last year’s total count of about 56 eager participants.
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