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Winter 2006 -
Entertainment
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Written by Sara James
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 Knoxville Raceway, Knoxville, Iowa The sharp smell of gasoline and a sound like rumbling thunder fill the air.
It is a Saturday night at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway and everyone is either in the stands or listening as the race’s soundtrack echoes across the small town. Sprint cars race by, one after another.
“Anyone who lives here knows that the track was here first,” said Lori DeMoss, a resident of the city of Knoxville. “So when it’s loud on the weekends, you just accept it because it is a way of life around here.”
The racetrack can hold up to 24,000 spectators despite Knoxville’s population of only 7,536. Visitors come from as far away as Australia. Because the small town does not have enough hotels and campgrounds for all of the visitors, the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce initiated a housing program. The chamber compiled a list of residents that were willing to host families during the races. Some people host families for a fee, and some end up housing visitors for free.
“You end up making friends with the people that you host and they end up returning year after year to stay with you,” DeMoss said. “Knoxville has proved that not only are they all about the races, but they are all about the friends and people.”
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Winter 2006 -
Entertainment
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Written by Conor Nicholl
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Chester Ray Stadium, Brookfield, Missouri
Nell White sits on the wooden bleachers at Chester Ray Stadium in the middle
of the Brookfield faithful. Kickoff for the annual Bell Game rivalry between
Brookfield High School and Marceline High School is still two hours away, but
White is anxious.
“I am sick to my stomach,” she said. “The Bell means a whole lot.”
She wears a blue T-shirt with “Brookfield High School” written in white letters.
White also has two photo buttons pinned to her shirt. One is a picture of her
daughter, Bulldogs cheerleader Tiffany White, and the other photo is of her
son, Brookfield running back Dustin White.
Dustin, a key contributor for the Bulldogs in their 14-13 Bell Game win in
2005, has looked forward to the contest since football camp started in the
summer.
Throughout the entire week, the White household has been preparing for the
Bell Game – an annual maelstrom of football and tradition that feels like Homecoming
and a state championship game all rolled into one.
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Winter 2006 -
Entertainment
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Written by Erin Clark
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Upper Limits Rock Gym, Bloomington, Illinois
Kate Ewing couldn’t stop to wipe the sweat out of her eyes. She was hanging
by her fingertips on a vertical face nearly 65 feet above the ground.
No problem.
Ewing caught the rock-climbing bug on a mission trip to Morocco. Then a friend
took her to the Upper Limits Rock Gym in Bloomington, Ill. – and she was hooked.
The gym, a converted grain silo, boasts some of the tallest climbs in the nation.
The cylindrical inner walls, once buried in grain, are now spotted with multi-colored
handholds.
“I remember that first night – by the end of the night my hands were shaking
so badly that I couldn’t even hold onto the wall,” she said. “I couldn’t grip
the holds. It was like my mind wanted to keep climbing, but my body couldn’t.”
Since that day five years ago, she’s been back to the gym nearly 400 times.
“I just kind of kept climbing,” she said. “People come and go, but there seem
to be the standard gym rats that are always there.
“The nice part about good climbers is the really good ones and the really passionate
ones love to teach people how to climb. They’re really patient with you. They
welcome you in.”
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