Kampsville News

By Editor | July 21, 2026 |

Kampsville Summer Celebration 2026 was fantastic! Our Inaugural Carshow kicked off our event at 3 p.m. Car show organizers and celebration committee members Shawn and Morgan Holland did an amazing job . Since this was the first time ever having this, our hope was maybe 10 to 15 cars , we had 32 participants! We hope it gets bigger and better every year!
Our parade then kicked off our evening long festivities. North Calhoun Fire Department, Kampsville American Legion and our parade Grand Marshall
Virginia Becker. Thank you to all who came out and participated. Our American Legion Post 1083 did the flag raising as Jennifer Wilschetz did an amazing job singing the national anthem. We crowned new royalty. Baby Kampsville 2026 is Curtis Smith son of Curt and Alicia Smith, Toddler Kampsville is Jovie Blackwell daughter of Jacob and Katie Blackwell, Little Mr. Kampsville Layton DeSherlia son of Jessica Baze and Nick DeSherlia and Little Miss Kampsville Lillian Willis daughter of Josh Willis and Jerricah Clendenen. Congratulations to them all. I’m sure they will get you a great job representing us this year.
It was in time for fun and games, we enjoyed cookie stacking, cookie eating, and watermelon eating. Thank you to all who donated trophies . You put a lot of smiles on a lot of kids’ faces. My granddaughter Reagan Clendenny assisted me all day from set up to stage help. She even took the lead in lining up the parade. Thank you Terry McBride for supplying our sound system for the festivities. If you had a chance to be there and see our stage, you can see pictures. Didn’t you know my decorating committee went above and beyond so we could make the 250th birthday of America special. That was the work of Tammy Kress, Tonya Hayn and Heather Lorsbach.
We had 30 raffle baskets thanks to all of our many businesses and individuals who donated.
Our patriotic quilt was won by Brianna Sibley.
The kids games and bounce house were a hit. Thank you Deputy Zach Smith, Erica, James and Brooklyn for heading this up.
I have to give a big thank you to my sisters Linda Hazelwonder, Tammy Jones , my brother-in-law, Gary, and niece Mindy Jones. They stepped in and ran the snowcone stand and none of them even live in this county. They just did it to help us out.
Thank you to all my Legion guys, auxiliary, Ed and Channing Johnson, Walker and Brianna Sibley and Nina Wilson for taking care of our food stand.
Thank you Peggy and Callie Hall and Remi Vinson for doing glow tattoo art and manning the Dunk Tank.
Our dunk tank was compliments of Jerry Voight, he got it for us, set it up and took care of taking it down. It was a hot day so we didn’t have complaints from our helpers about being in there. I have to give a shout out to Sheriff Zach Hardin and Deputy Zach Smith for taking one for the team and getting in there for us.
Mayor Amanda has been working nonstop along with me to get all of the details done. Board members Terry Hauseman and Bill Agney did a lot of behind-the-scenes things and the week leading up to it to make sure we were ready to go.
We finished out our evening with some fabulous fireworks over the Illinois river. Thank you, North Calhoun fire protection district not only for assisting with the fireworks, but also the parade and anything we asked of you!
There was so much going on, but I’m sure I might’ve missed something. But just reading what I’ve already wrote. It takes a lot to put this on, and it could not be done without the generosity of everyone of our businesses and individuals and those of all ages they give their time. We have so many kids in our town that jump in and have helped us through the years and every year they step into new roles. We’ve been having this since 1996 other than a few years where we couldn’t, such as flooding and Covid. The way to ensure that an event like this goes on is to get the young people involved and remember to listen when they want to make changes and refresh everything. If I have forgotten anyone, my apologies, it certainly was not intentional. That’s a wrap on this year’s summer celebration. We will see you next July.
Congratulations to Sandy Klunk who won the St. Anselm’s Meat Raffle.
Calhoun Entertainment Company presented their Summer Jamboree Sunday at St. Anslem’s Hall to a packed crowd, a very entertaining show.
Thank you Stephen and Britney Hayn owners of Calhoun Auto for giving us all a good laugh as we drive by your sign. If you wanna know what it says, you’ll have to drive by and look at it.!
Happy Birthday Ben Lehr on July 19 and also Happy 70 Birthday to Denny Brangenberg !
Please add Barb Margherio to your prayers and continue prayers for
Billie Jo Eickmeyer, Diane Rose, Mary Ann Gress, Kurt Roth, Isabel McGlaughin, Kiera Sievers, Connor Gilman, Joyce Blumenberg, Katie Bick, Finn Smith and Brenda Shulte.