Rudd sesquicentennial brings folks from near and far to celebrate 150 years

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

There was live music, plenty of sunshine and a parade that strolled right through the heart of downtown.

Rudd was a happening destination on Saturday. The town of 369 residents increased its population considerably over the weekend as many came to celebrate another birthday for the community in northwest Floyd County.

This was a big one, though.

The party was put together to honor Rudd’s 150th birthday — it’s sesquicentennial.

“I’ve never seen a parade through Rudd,” said Casey Wood, a board member of the Rudd Community Betterment group that helped plan and organize the once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

Wood, who is a kindergarten teacher in the Mason City School District and has lived in Rudd for four years, said a local Little League team helped with the barbecue chicken dinner that was held at Rudd School that evening after the parade. Wood said there were more than 650 chickens being grilled for the event.

“There’s a lot of excitement just around town,” she said. “There’s been a lot of people that have just been contributing to all of these ideas. They really wanted to include everyone and give them all an opportunity to have their part.”

Wood said her 3-year-old daughter was riding in the parade on a mini-horse named Jack.

“She’s really excited,” said Wood.

The temperature soared into the 90s over the weekend with plenty of humidity.

Kristie Roberts, who was on the Rudd 150th planning committee, made sure to remind people to stay hydrated. The Rudd resident wanted to make sure the town had plenty of fun things to do and something to celebrate.

“I said we have to do something. So we went around asking people for donations and here we are. It’s a big day,” Roberts said.

Roberts said there were more than 80 entries in the parade, replete with plenty of candy thrown down on the hot asphalt in the center of town, not to mention several fire trucks that honked at onlookers. Floyd County Fair royalty even cruised down the main drag in a red mustang with the top down.