The City of Hoopeston is celebrating its 150th birthday with a week packed full of special events. On Monday a dozen Hoopeston area family farms were presented sesquicentennial awards. And Hoopeston Fire Chief Joel Bird led tours of Hoopeston’s fire station. He noted it stands on a historical spot….
{AUDIO: ‘’We’re standing, actually, where the old City Hall, Police station and Fire station was up until February 25th of 1926. It burnt down in a fire. There was a gentleman that was traveling through town and needed a place to sleep, and was actually sleeping in one of the jail cells that night. And his screams – ‘Get me out! Get me out!’ – The jailer was able to rescue him out before it was enveloped in flames.’’}
Chief Bird has been on the Hoopeston Fire Department nearly twenty years. He vividly remembers his worst fire….
{‘’The January tire fire in Hoopeston from 2013. It burnt for three solid days. We were on-scene around the clock, and then we went back for six months putting out hot spots afterwards. It destroyed basically all of our gear, our hoses on the trucks. We lost our ladder truck in that fire, so we had to recoup all of that money back to get new equipment.’’}
In addition to the fire station tours Monday, citizens also got a chance to see the end making process for aluminum cans at Hoopeston’s Silgan Container plant, and could take historical tours of the downtown area.
On Tuesday (June 29, 2021) events include self-paced tours of the historical Lorraine Theatre from 1:00 until 3:00 p.m., youth activities at the McFerren Park Legion Shelter from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. (for children 3 to 10 with children accompanied by an adult). There is also a teen dance with a DJ from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at McFerren Park.
There are numerous other activities all week celebrating the Hoopeston Sesquicentennial…including a Grand Parade at 10:30 Saturday morning (July 3, 2021), a classic car show starting at noon Saturday at McFerren Park, and bands and fireworks Saturday night at the 6th Avenue Soccer Fields.
For more information visit www.hoopeston150.com.
