RALSTON, Neb. (WOWT) – Joe Siwa was up by 9 a.m. Saturday, setting up a cookout that has become a nearly 30-year Independence Day tradition — one that includes 300 ears of corn and a standing invitation to the Tangier Shriners.
The Siwa family hosts the Shriners each year as part of the Ralston parade, feeding the group before they take to the streets.
“The Shriners will be popping in here a little bit with their cars and with the clowns and we’re ready to feed them and get the party started,” Joe Siwa said.
A tradition rooted in gratitude
The relationship between the Siwa family and the Shriners stretches back more than three decades, to a moment when the organization showed up for his daughter after a serious accident…