From the beginning: Grand marshal recalls 30 years of Wild West Festival

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

In his light blue Pontiac Tempest, Bob Swift and his wife, Sandra, led the parade for the 30th-annual Wild West Festival Saturday as the grand marshall.

Swift, 80, of Hays, has been on the Wild West Committee since its beginning three decades ago.

He became involved with the festival in its infancy through his work with Midwest Energy, which provided the festival's electricity.

"That's how a lot of people got started in this, through businesses, because the businesses were very active and supportive of this from the get-go," he said.

The festival was conceived as a way to keep Hays residents in town during the Fourth of July holiday.

He's seen the festival grow over the years, starting the first year with a trailer being brought in for a stage and audience members sitting on planks set across hay bales.

The committee was instrumental in building two shelter houses, parking in Municipal Park, and a cement pad for the stage brought in annually for the event.

Bob Swift, longtime Wild West Festival Committee member, makes announcements during the Wild West Festival concert Friday night. Photo by Cristina Janney/Hays Post

He was there for the epic Charlie Daniels concert, which attracted 10,000 people to Municipal Park—far more than the committee expected.

"It kind of scared me because there were more people than we ever could imagine we could take care of," Swift said. "As always, people were very good and very courteous, and everything went well. But gosh, that night was unbelievable."

Swift said one of the reasons he has kept coming back for the July Fourth festivities is the joy the event creates.

"People have fun," he said. "We do it for that reason. It's a family-oriented program. When you see them smiling ... They'll see a committee member in one of our red, white and blue shirts and thank them.

"They come down and relax and just have a good time. We need that in our daily lives to be able to hang out and just be with our neighbors and enjoy some good music."

Earlier this year, the committee announced that the festival was in financial difficulties, and members were unsure if it would be able to continue.

Businesses stepped up as sponsors and community members packed the park on Wednesday and Friday nights for the first two nights of the festival's ticketed concerts.

"That tells me that the people of Hays want this event. In wanting this event, they stepped forward financially, and buying that ticket really put us over the top," Swift said. "We really appreciate that. We can't do this by ourselves as a committee and all the volunteers we've had over 30 years."

Swift said he was honored to be named grand marshal of the parade, but he thought each of the many volunteers over the years of the festival deserved recognition.

Swift encouraged anyone interested in volunteering to contact the committee. The committee can still use volunteers to tear down the festival venue at Municipal Park today.

Although the festival has three days to stage the event, they only have one day to tear down and clean up.

"We always encourage new people to get on. [They bring] new ideas. The ideas I see are the new talent. They ask me who I want. I've been here so long. I'm in the '50s. You give me some good ole rock 'n' roll, and I'm happy."

He added, "It's not easy. There's a lot of sweat that goes into this. We appreciate each and every person who does this. It's unbelievable what it takes to put this on."