Seward welcomes thousands for sprawling 4th of July celebration

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Every year, a Fourth of July celebration sweeps over the entire city of Seward, which is considered a national and even international destination during the holiday.

A whole year of planning goes into upholding old traditions and creating new ones.

“It takes a village to put on this celebration,” Clark Kolterman, the chair of the Seward 4th of July Celebration Committee, said.

The celebration is also a boon for Nebraska businesses.

“We just love the atmosphere here,” Linda Whited, a crafter from Omaha, said. “It’s really nice. And we do sell a lot of things.”

Around 200 vendors—peddling everything from clothes to crochet animals—lined the Seward County Courthouse lawn, which meant a lot of money changing hands.

“My husband and I are crafters; we run a business,” Culleen Bauer, who helps put on the craft show, said. “We depend on this show to bring this 100,000 people into town to keep our small business going.”

The day featured a host of events, including the time-honored apple pie eating contest and a massive parade.

Pie eating champion Brian Coffin, from Kansas, has made Seward his Independence Day destination for more than three decades now. People came from as far as South Korea and Australia, according to Kolterman, and he said he’s glad to see the festival grow into what it did.

“It’s our identity,” Kolterman said. “You know, Wilber is the Czech Capital. Ogallala is the Cowboy Capital. Lincoln is the Star City. Seward was looking for an identity.”

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