By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
A great problem. That’s how Great Bend Community Coordinator Christina Hayes referred to the possibility of the Great Bend High School football team playing in a state championship game on the same day as the city’s Home for the Holidays Festival and Parade.
The festival is always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 30 this year. Hayes pitched the idea to the Great Bend City Council Monday to create a backup plan of moving the festival and parade if the Panthers win this Friday.
"It's really hard, because if we win this week we really need to go in a mode where we're planning for one day or the other," said Hayes. "
If Great Bend wins this Friday in the Regional round, or second round of the Class 5A playoffs against Hays High School, the festival will be moved to Friday, Nov. 29. Great Bend Mayor Cody Schmidt said the parade would start at approximately 5:45 p.m. that evening with many of the festival’s traditional activities, such as the mayor’s tree lighting, food and carriage rides, available to patrons.
"I just think this is good planning on our part because we have had festivities this year where the numbers haven't been great," said Schmidt. "We probably don't need another event that something brings the numbers down."
If “Plan B” takes effect and Great Bend is able to make the state championship game, the Friday parade and festival would serve as a pep rally for the football team. The Panthers are 9-0 and are the #1-seed on the west side of the bracket.