100 years of Neewollah
Neewollah is the oldest and largest annual festival in Kansas. For 100 years, Independence has been celebrating with parades, queen’s pageant, musical theatre productions, carnival, street acts, food vendors, and much, much more. It started out small, centered around parades held on October 31. Except for years of interruption in the mid-20th century, due to the Great Depression, World War II and lack of financial support, the festival has grown from a one-day celebration to a now nine-day festival.
There are countless memories over the last 100 years for each and every person who has ever celebrated Neewollah. The tradition of Neewollah lives on by volunteering, sponsoring and supporting all the activities. My most treasured memories are easily seen in pictures which I share with you during this 100th year celebration. In addition to the many years of participating in the Kiddie Parade, enjoying carnival rides, eating downtown and all of the other events, I made my Neewollah acting debut along with more than thirty young girls in the musical Annie in1984. Then in 1990, along with 24 other young ladies, I participated in Queen Neelah. It has been fun going back in albums and finding these treasured memories for all to see!
I encourage each of you to reminisce about Neewollah and pull out those treasured pictures and send them for all of us to share! We look forward to seeing what 100 years of Neewollah looks like. Thanks for believing in Neewollah 2019!
Anne Bertie