In Solomon, Community Is Something People Build Together

As Solomon celebrates public art, summer traditions, and the 50th Solomon Festival, the city’s story reflects a deeper kind of community momentum.

Through the America 250 Hydrant Art Project, Solomon families and residents are helping leave their mark on the place they call home. Photo Credit: Jessica Flynn

This month in Solomon, community pride will show up in color, celebration, and tradition.

Across town, fire hydrants are being transformed through the America 250 Hydrant Art Project — a patriotic, community-centered effort inviting residents, families, businesses, churches, students, civic groups, and organizations to leave their mark on the place they call home.

At the same time, Solomon is preparing to celebrate the 50th Solomon Festival, a milestone that reflects generations of volunteers, sponsors, families, local businesses, and community members who have continued to carry the tradition forward.

Together, the two moments tell a bigger story.

In a community of about 1,000 residents located between Abilene and Salina, Solomon’s momentum is especially meaningful. The city is small enough for people to know one another, but active enough to create a steady rhythm of public events, school involvement, volunteer leadership, and shared community spaces. With Solomon USD 393 serving local students and families, the connection between school, city, and community is often visible in the way students, coaches, staff, and families show up beyond the classroom.

In Solomon, community engagement is not just something placed on a calendar. It is something people build together.

You can see it at the Solomon Municipal Pool, where summer evenings have become more than a chance to swim. Family Fun Nights, watermelon feeds, water volleyball, craft activities, free swim opportunities, and movie nights have helped turn the pool into one of the community’s most visible gathering spaces.

Summer events at the Solomon Municipal Pool turn ordinary evenings into shared family memories.

Those events happen because people step forward. Individuals like Maddi Holzen have helped create meaningful summer moments for families. A local Girl Scout troop has hosted activities for kids. High school volleyball teams and coaches have brought energy and involvement to pool programming. Almost Home Realty has sponsored a summer event. The Solomon Recreation Commission and Solomon Gorilla Foundation continue to support family-centered opportunities.

Together, those contributions create something larger than a single evening at the pool. They create memories, connection, and the kind of small-town experiences families remember when they think about what made a place feel like home.

That same spirit is visible throughout Solomon’s shared spaces.

At Solomon City Park, recent improvements have made it easier for people to gather, play, celebrate, and spend time together. Renovated park restrooms, updates to the basketball court and shared pickleball space, new equipment, a sound system, and other improvements have helped strengthen the park as a true community gathering place.

The updated shared basketball and pickleball court at Solomon City Park gives residents another place to gather, play, and connect.

Some of those projects were supported by grants. Others were made possible through donations, sponsorships, and local commitment. The Community Foundation of Dickinson County has played an important role in that story, including grant support for the City Park restroom renovation. Through the Solomon Community Fund and local giving efforts such as Donate Dickinson County Day, community investment has also helped support projects like pool water volleyball equipment, pickleball equipment, and a portable sound system used for events including the Solomon Festival, Community Christmas, Faith in Blue, and other gatherings.

That kind of support matters because public spaces are more than facilities. A restroom renovation may sound simple until a family spends the evening at the park. A sound system may seem like equipment until it helps carry music, announcements, and celebration across a crowd. A court improvement may look like recreation until it becomes a place where students, adults, and neighbors gather in the same space.

In Solomon, these improvements are about quality of life. They are about creating places where people can show up — and feel welcome when they do.

Bloom Together showed how young local leadership can create meaningful spaces for connection across generations.

The Solomon Public Library adds another important piece to the story. Through summer reading programming and visiting guests, the library gives children and families another reason to stay connected during the summer months. It is more than a place to check out books. It is one of Solomon’s everyday gathering points — a place where learning, imagination, access, and community connection come together.

The library has also helped support new ideas. When young local adult Emma Boyer and student Adalyn Kohman brought the Bloom Together women’s celebration event to life, the Solomon Public Library served as fiscal sponsor, helping make it possible for young leaders to access grant support and create something meaningful for women and girls across generations.

That detail matters because strong communities are not built only by preserving traditions. They are also built by making room for new voices, new ideas, and new leaders.

Solomon’s community garden reflects that same belief in shared ownership. Like the pool, park, library, and festival, it gives people another way to participate, contribute, learn, gather, and feel connected to the town around them.

Community Christmas brings together volunteers, sponsors, families, and local organizations to create a holiday tradition that feels deeply local.

Community Christmas shows the same spirit in another season, bringing together the fire department, schools, civic groups, local businesses, students, churches, volunteers, families, and organizations for a holiday celebration that feels deeply local. Crafts, music, Santa visits, carriage rides, donations, lights, and shared traditions come together because people are willing to give time, resources, creativity, and care.

And this month, that culture of participation will be seen again through the America 250 Hydrant Art Project. Inspired by Solomon resident Holli Smith, the project turns ordinary infrastructure into a visible expression of community pride. It is a beautification project, but it is also something more — a way for people to see themselves in the community landscape and turn everyday streets into reminders of shared ownership.

That same pride will be on display during the 50th Solomon Festival.

For half a century, the festival has brought people together through parades, entertainment, competitions, food, music, family activities, and the kind of moments that make small-town celebrations feel personal.

For longtime attendee Patty Prochazka, who has experienced all 50 years of the Solomon Festival, the parade remains one of the festival’s most lasting traditions.

“We have always had a parade to kick off the festival,” Prochazka said, noting that the celebration began as the Solomon Lions Fall Festival and that the Lions have remained active in helping every year.

Festival traditions like the hay scramble continue to bring generations of Solomon families together year after year.

Over time, the entertainment has changed and activities have evolved, especially for children and families. The festival has also continued to grow through attendees, volunteers, local families, community members, and generous sponsors who invest their time, resources, and pride into the celebration. That support includes long-standing local businesses such as Sunbelt Solomon, whose continued operations and community involvement have made it a steady part of Solomon’s story, and Abilene Machine, which has hosted the tractor pull for many years — a family-favorite festival tradition.

For Prochazka, that support reflects what makes Solomon special.

“Solomon is a great community to grow up in or move to for families that want the small-town vibe,” she said. “The festival has grown because of the many local families that help in volunteering and participating and are proud of our success in continuing the small hometown feel.”

That perspective is part of what makes the milestone so powerful. The festival is not only about one weekend of activities. It is about the way a community carries its story forward — from one generation to the next.

For Driving Dickinson County, Solomon’s story is a reminder that economic development is not only about buildings, jobs, sites, or statistics. Those things matter. But so does belonging.

People choose communities where they can imagine a future. Businesses invest in places where pride is visible. Volunteers give their time when they believe their effort makes a difference. Young leaders step forward when they are trusted to contribute. Traditions last when each generation sees a reason to carry them forward.

Solomon is doing that work in visible, practical, heartfelt ways — not through one event, one project, or one person, but through a community culture where people keep showing up and where the city continues to make room for them to do it.

This month, that culture will be seen in painted hydrants, festival traditions, family activities, local sponsorships, and neighbors gathering once again.

That is what makes Solomon’s story roadmarkable.