Three-year-old Dolly Niederhoff pulls her first place entry in the Clutier Fun Days Kiddie and Pet Parade on Saturday, Aug. 2, in downtown Clutier. A total of 13 entries took part in the parade. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

CLUTIER – With both the past and the future in mind, Clutier celebrated its quasquicentennial last weekend in grand Bohemie style with two days of music, dancing, parades, family-friendly entertainment and delicious food.

The Clutier Fun Days weekend kicked off Aug. 1 with the Friday evening Bohemian Plum Festival Band Concert featuring polka favorite Barefoot Becky & the Ivanhoe Dutchmen led by Becky Livermore of Mount Vernon. Ahead of the quartet’s 7 p.m. concert — which took place as is tradition along a closed-off downtown Main Street — vendors Ira and Lana Roberts along with Steadman Brown served up tasty smashburgers and Indian tacos to the crowd, while under an adjacent canopy, Ardene Close and several other concert committee volunteers sold kolaches and rohlíky. Although a few concert-goers expressed disappointment that the usual Bohemian plum brats were not on the menu this year, the smashburgers were wicked good while the Indian tacos, served atop freshly-made frybread, were equally mouthwatering and well worth the wait.

Early in the concert, Becky asked the audience to raise their hands if they were Czech, leading to most every hand in the crowd shooting up.

“Tonight, we’re all Czech!” Becky loudly declared with a laugh before launching into another fast-moving polka.

Up the street from the concert at Z.C.B.J. Hall, members of Clutier ZCBJ BetterLife Lodge #104 served up free hotdogs, chips, and cold drinks to anyone who stopped by Friday afternoon and evening while also hosting several free drawings and a small craft fair – an event the organization repeated Saturday as well.

With Tama County's Bohemie Alps in the background, Irene Podhajsky, left, of Traer and Lee King of Guernsey polka on Clutier's Main Street during Barefoot Becky & the Ivanhoe Dutchmen's concert on Friday, Aug. 1. The Bohemian Plum Festival Band Concert kicked off the community's 125th anniversary weekend. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Following the two-day birthday bash, BetterLife Advisory Board member Tom Krueger of Clutier posted on Facebook, “300 free hotdogs, 200 free bags of chips, 250 free cans of soda, 72 free bottles of water later we ended a great day honoring Clutier’s 125th.”

In tandem with the Lodge offerings Friday evening, ZCBJ also sponsored the well-attended Live Pro Wrestling’s ClutierSlam Night out front of the Hall.

Saturday parades

On Saturday morning, Clutier Mayor Linda Pearson heralded the start of activities a tick before 11 a.m. with a brief welcome address before giving the go-ahead for the 13 separate Kiddie Parade entries to march down a half-block of Main Street before turning around in front of the Bohemian Blonde Bar & Grill (which later in the day sponsored the gurney races) to march back to the public library for a group photo.

Three-year-old Dolly Niederhoff won first place in the parade with her absolutely adorable three-tier, balloon-topped birthday cake made of pink, yellow, orange, and green construction paper. Dolly, dressed in a Strawberry Shortcake baker’s costume, pulled the cake — taller than her! — with a Radio Flyer play wagon. Her grandmother Sharon (Dean) Knoop along with a neighbor put together the blue-ribbon entry which later could be viewed in front of the Clutier Fire Station as part of Dolly’s mother Deanna Nederhoff’s baked goods stand, Blue Hill Rural Bake Shop. The Wellsburg-based cottage stand was almost completely sold out of pies, breads, and cinnamon rolls by early afternoon with all proceeds going to the Clutier First Responders.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Second place in the Kiddie Parade went to Lyla Coe (parents Robbie and Amber Coe; grandparents Mark and Toni Svoboda); third place went to River Pearson (parents Jake and Hailey Pearson; grandparents Mitch and Shelly Kriz; great-grandparents Gary and Linda Pearson).

Shortly after the Kiddie Parade ended, folks began queuing along the hill in front of Z.C.B.J. Hall for the Grand Parade. The parade was led by Clutier and Traer Legionnaires from Hora Machacek Post No. 453 and Kubik-Finch Post 142, respectively, who rode in a wagon hitched up to a gorgeous restored 1953 Farmall Super M owned by Laurence Svoboda and his late wife, Marlus Svoboda. Just behind the Legion float, Clutier Legionnaire Bernard Svoboda, smiling and waving from the driver’s seat, helmed his classic yellow 1974 International Harvester 3/4 ton 4×4 pickup aptly named ‘Old Yeller.’

Also riding near the front of the parade was Grand Marshal Arlene Vondracek who was ferried in style in a top-down white convertible.

The parade also featured members of the Clutier Fire Department and First Responders as well Belle Plaine, Dysart, and Garrison fire departments. Tama County Sheriff Casey Schmidt and his wife Cady along with their children were also in the parade, as was the giant Tama County Public Health & Home Care RV from which Assistant Director/CFO Lori Johnson waved from the passenger seat. The Clutier Public Library was well-represented, too, with a fabulous birthday-bedecked golf cart.

Several restored (and not so-restored) tractors took to the streets as well, including one owned by John Svoboda and parked atop a flatbed trailer due to its exhausted state. As Svoboda smiled proudly from the tractor’s seat, a sign attached to the trailer below humorously declared, “JUST LIKE YOU, I NEED PARTS TOO!”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Jim Pearson again drove his father O.J. Pearson’s beautifully restored antique Oliver tractor in the parade; Sheriff Schmidt’s two daughters rode in the tractor’s covered buggy seat.

ZCBJ BetterLife Lodge’s flashy red, blue, and gold-decorated trailer was one of the last floats to trundle down the street. Members including Lodge President Kathleen Brundage along with Little Mr. Clutier Olin McKee and Little Miss Clutier Kloyie Caviness tossed buckets of candy and other goodies from the float, while a sign on the back declared ‘MITI DOBRY DEN!’ – Czech for ‘Have a good day!’ Alongside the float, Tom Krueger and BetterLife agent Becca Lureen, in town from Spearfish, S.D., handed out BetterLife shopping bags to parade-goers. Right behind ZCBJ, members of the Clutier Cowboys and Cowgirls 4-H Club also tossed candy to the crowd from their float’s truck bed.

Rounding out the quasquicentennial parade, Bohemian Blonde Bar & Grill owner Steph Kupka waved to the crowd as she tossed candy and car show t-shirts alongside her children including daughters Bexley Stechcon and Briley Wildman.

Later that evening, the two-day celebration wrapped up with the dedication of the town’s new fueling tank project for first responders. A plaque located near the fueling station reads, “City of Clutier’s Fueling Stations Dedicated with Gratitude/This project was possible through the generous support of:/Farm Credit Services of America, Aureon Charity Grant Program/Farmers Cooperative Telephone Co. & Tama Co. Community Foundation/Your commitment to rural & community safety ensures the/1st Responders & Fire Dept. remain ready to serve./Dedicated in 2025 – City of Clutier lowa.”

Happy Birthday, Clutier!

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

According to a Traer-Star Clipper article published on Friday, July 28, 1950 as part of the newspaper’s coverage of Clutier’s 50th anniversary, Clutier “owes its existence to the C&NW [Chicago and North Western] railroad, which was extended north from Belle Plaine to Mason City and on into Minnesota in 1899 and 1900.” The very first trains on the railroad chugged through Clutier in June 1900.

A petition for Cluter’s incorporation was presented in Tama County District Court on Nov. 13, 1900, and was signed by the following residents: Henry Mohr, John G Antrim, Frank Cherveny, Frank Wolf, John Cherveny, P. L. Knowlen, B F Fish, A Simonsen, Charley Hach, A. J. Benge, J B. Simonsen, C. Montgomery, Claus Wamser, Theo J. Mundt, Jacob Schadt, John Wilson, F. R. Porter, Fred Rohde, Frank Vlasak, B.R. Roushar, Hans North, G. F. Walters, A. Herman, B.A. Walters, A.C. Ryan, G. F. Kruse, John Gathje, J.L. Youngman, Charles Wood, and Vincent Martinek.

An election for incorporation was then held on Dec. 11, 1900, with 32 votes cast, including 19 for incorporation and 13 against. The town’s first mayor was Albert Simonsen; he held the position for seven years.

The town was named after Bertram L. Clutier of Tama, a man who never once lived in his namesake town but was rather the brother-in-law of Willam Brice of Mason City who was key in bringing the railroad to the area.

“Mr. Brice was instrumental in platting of the new townsite and sale of lots at Clutier, one of several new towns built on the railroad line and named it for his brother-in-law and sister, the B.L. Clutiers,” the Traer Star-Clipper reported. “Both she and her husband are buried at Tama, where Mr. Clutier operated a general store for some years and also worked in the First National Bank. The couple moved from Tama to Mason City in 1913, and after three years moved to Chicago where Mr. Clutier was a bank employee. Mrs. Cluter was originally Maude Brice, a Tama girl.”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

In an article titled “First Woman in Clutier Tells Of Earliest Days of the Town,” the Traer Star-Clipper quotes resident Mrs. T.J. Mundt.

“Clutier’s fifty years bring back many pleasant memories for me, and it is a real pleasure to pass some of them on to you,” Mrs. Mundt writes. “This little town of Clutier means much to me, the second resident. The first resident was a young man who a little later became my husband.

“In 1899 a group of men decided to build a railroad from Belle Plaine to Mason City. The next move was a survey to locate the best route for the new line. Before long, everything was decided, and by fall the grading was completed, but too late to lay the track that year.

“Of course there were all sorts of rumors as to where the new town in Oneida township would be located. The ideal spot was about half way between the towns of Elberon and Traer and finally Frank Parizek’s 80 acres were purchased for a town site.”

While the railroad is long gone, the town of Clutier continues, nestled at the edge of Tama County’s picturesque Bohemie Alps. Like the community’s former school mascot, the Charging Czechs – of which the girls’ 1939-1948 basketball teams became legends, dominating sports headlines from river to river – may Clutier continue to persist and persevere.

Happy Birthday, Clutier!

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER