I got to see the mower – the fully restored Lawnboy Loafer riding mower that made its public debut here in LaRussell.
Late afternoon on Thanksgiving Day, when the food was put away and the games were over, a crowd of over 500 area residents (maybe over 600, depending on who you talk to) gathered on LaRussell’s Main Street to watch the parade that preceded the annual Lighting of the Pump.
I don’t think anyone was disappointed – especially if you like fire trucks, tractors, balloons, candy – lots of candy – and of course, fine kazoo music. Dressed as delightfully decorated Christmas Trees, the Humdingers Kazoo Band wowed the audience with Christmas music favorites. Santa was there, too, arriving in a bright red hay wagon pulled by a bright red tractor – quite fitting for proud rural Missourians.
After the parade ended, organizer Linda Heman awarded trophies for some outstanding parade entries, it was time for the lighting.
Santa assisted in applying the power, and violá! the electric light wrapped around pump lit up in all their glory.
And then the fireworks began – the good kind that fill the sky with brilliant showers and speckles of light that make you ooh and aah! It was the finest fireworks display I’d seen in a long time.
LaRussell Traffic
Jean Campbell, a resident of the same house in LaRussell for 62 years, led the parade down Main Street as the 2018 Grand Marshall.
Campbell’s husband, Bill Campbell, and another long-time resident, Frank Langston, led the Parade, carrying American Flags on their motorized wheelchairs, for the first few years of its existence. They passed away in recent years.
Campbell said Parade day changes things for one day in this community of 114 people on the eastern edge of Jasper County.
“I’ve lived in LaRussell in the same house for 62 years,” Campbell said. “I don’t usually have a traffic problem here. My husband lived here 86 years, then we bought our house and moved into it, and we’ve been here ever since. It’s fun. And the stuff we do is fun, you know, the Humdingers, the cookies, the hot chocolate and the punch and stuff.”
Campbell said the parade is a piece of Americana in a small town where neighbors are more than neighbors — they’re your friends.
“I have wonderful neighbors,” Campbell said. “I had heart surgery and my neighbors see me pull in and they’ll run over and carry my stuff in. I’ve got a neighbor that mows my yard for me and sets out plants and different things. It’s just a very nice place. I drove from here to Missouri Southern every day for 21 years because I liked it here.”
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”12″ display=”basic_imagebrowser”]
Restored Mower
As amazing as the Pump Parade was, the most fun I had was talking with Sonny Lau, owner and operator of the now award-winning 1960 Lawnboy Loafer mower that he restored himself.
“I bought it from a man in St. Joseph for $350,” Lau said. “When he tried to start it, he broke the starter gear and cord.”
Sonny, 80-years-young and ready for a project, bought the mower anyway but soon discovered that finding replacement parts was a little difficult. He hit dead ends with every shop he checked, with one owner telling him, “I threw the books away on that mower 20 years ago.”
Sonny’s son spent three months searching the Internet and finally located the parts his father needed, but it didn’t solve all of the problems.
“I had to make some of the pieces myself,” he says.
But not everything needed replaced. “Look at these wheels,” Sonny says, pointing to the mower. “Those are the original wheels, 60 years old, hardly worn at all.” Yes, in those days things were made to last.
Sonny didn’t know how many hours he spent working on his Lawnboy, “but I’ve spent about six or eight dollars in parts and $200 in green automotive paint.” Clearly, he wanted it to look right.
The setup of the mower is intriguing. “You can unhook the mower deck from the back section,” Sonny said, “then put wheels on the front and you have yourself a little garden tractor.” He showed me, with the help of a bystander who was as fascinated with this machine as I was. “The guy I bought it from didn’t have the front wheels, so I had to make a set using the axle of old lawn mower.”
As quickly as they unhooked it, the two men remounted the mower deck.
The little tractor/mower combo has some pulling power, too.
“I had a little wagon I’d constructed to help me carry my music equipment, including a big heavy amp,” Sonny chuckled.
For this parade Sonny painted the wagon and decorated in a Christmas theme, then mounted a chair on it so his wife, Noreen, could ride with him.
Did he say music equipment? Sonny, originally from Minnesota, is a certified bluegrass musician who once played for the bluegrass band Sunnyside Up, and he’s in the Minnesota Country Music Hall of Fame.
Sonny said, “I play the guitar, dobro, dulcimer, mandolin, autoharp, harmonica,” Sonny says, “and I have been accused of getting a recognizable tune out of a banjo.” Sonny still performs occasionally around the area.
You might say that this was the first performance with his newest instrument – not a Les Paul or a Hohner, but a Lawnboy. And he was a hit with his audience. “This is the first parade I’ve had the mower in,” he says, “and I can’t believe I won a trophy!”
I can. I hope he and Noreen return next year.
