The Fourth of July Parade and Heritage Days are Bellevue’s pride and joy.  The unfortunate incident that injured so many on the 4th of July has impacted and touched the whole community, but also brought the community together.  There has been so much media coverage of the tragedy but what has received less coverage is the way the community has rallied, both through the valiant efforts on the day of the accident to help the injured and in the days and weeks afterward to support and finance the recovery.

We hope that this web site can be an avenue of continued support through additional fund raising and to publish additional information and articles about the event.  There are many stories about how the community came together to respond and we hope to share them here.

If you haven’t contributed already, please consider doing so through the links below.

Click the button below to donate to the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund:

All donations to the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund are tax deductible.  If you prefer to visit the Bank or donate by mail, donations are also accepted at most local Bellevue Area financial institutions and also at:

Bellevue Parade Victims Fund
Bellevue State Bank
P.O. Box 47
Bellevue, IA 52031

Below is a news article from KWQC -TV in Davenport, IA.  Click this link for the article from KWQC -TV in Davenport, IA.

Bellevue Parade Victims Fund

Updated: July 8, 2010 10:02 PM

A community comes together to help victims of a tragic accident. People in Bellevue have formed an organization raising money for those injured during a Forth of July parade.

People in downtown Bellevue are starting to get back to their everyday routines. “It’s starting to return to normal, but it’s still the main topic of conversation,” says Tim Daugherty Chairman of the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund.

A few days ago it wasn’t so peaceful. During the town’s Independence Day parade 2 horses rubbed heads, the bridle falling off one of them. The horses started running out of control for blocks. In all 24 people were injured and 1 person was killed. Now, there’s help those injured. “We’re hoping to cover their out of pocket expenses. If they do have insurance policies, their deductibles or if they have lodging costs. If they don’t have insurance they’ll cover that.”

The money will come from the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund. It started when community leaders decided to call each other. “I started making phone calls at 8 o’clock Tuesday morning. We had a noon meeting and everyone I called dropped everything they were doing and made the meeting.”

Within hours they had the organization up and running. A radio fundraiser and donations from local companies has brought in more than $120,000. “It’s rewarding, it makes you believe in humans and that they care.”

Victims have until September 30th to file a claim and a committee will process them. Any money left over will help Bellevue’s fire department and ambulance service. “People here were going over their expenses and the best estimate we have is it cost those 2 departments $50,000.”

The fundraising effort isn’t over. The organization wants to raise more funds and they have people willing to help. “I received calls from several people offering services such as a band, a D. J., someone who sells home interiors.”

To donate to the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund you can send a check or money order to Bellevue State Bank, P.O. Box 47, Bellevue, Iowa 52021. All donations are tax deductible.

Click the button below to donate to the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund:

Here is an additional news report on the accident:

A woman was killed and 23 people injured today after runaway horses trampled through the crowd at a Fourth of July parade in the eastern Iowa town of Bellevue. The wagon driver lost control of the two horses when one horse rubbed the bridle off the other before they started on the parade route, Bellevue Fire Chief Chris Roling said. The horses and wagon plowed through the spectators on the curb of U.S. Highway 52 for about seven blocks. Janet Steines, 60, of Springbrook, died at University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, according to a death notice posted on the website of Hachmann Funeral Home in Bellevue. She was riding in the wagon, driven by her husband, Mardell Steines, when the horses bolted, Roling said. The others who were hurt ranged in age from 2 to 62, firefighters said. Holly Specht of Peosta was in her hometown for the holiday weekend and was sitting in front of the Subway restaurant when the horses galloped past. “There were two horses coming at us at full speed, right at the curb,” Specht said. “People were grabbing kids. You looked up and it was just like a flash. Everybody was kind of in shock and panic.” She said a little girl windmilled toward her as the horses whipped past. The girl landed next to Specht on the sidewalk. She had some scrapes and her back hurt, but she seemed OK. Aside from Steines, four people were critically injured. Five people were severely injured and 14 suffered minor injuries, firefighters said. Injuries included broken bones, collapsed lungs, cuts and bruises, firefighters said.

The parade is a decades-long tradition in Bellevue that has often included tractors, bands and horses. “The mood is shock and disbelief,” Bellevue Mayor Virgil Murray said. “We’ve had this parade forever. We’ve had horses in the parade forever.” “It was like slow motion,” said Sandy DeFries, who was standing in her friends’ yard along U.S. Highway 52 when the horses went by. “People were trying to back off, but because the kids were on the curb for the candy, they were some of the victims. ” Fifteen ambulances took the victims to hospitals in Dubuque and Maquoketa. Carol Dietzel, the house supervisor at Mercy Medical Center in Dubuque, said of the 10 patients brought there, nine were children. Two children in critical condition were transferred to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City. Paramedics treated victims in an art gallery near the parade route, said witness Sandie Crilly, 46, of Willow Springs, Ill. A triage area was set up near the Mississippi River where volunteers held up tarps to shield the paramedics and injured from the heat. Others brought the injured ice and water, she said. “It was madness,” Crilly said. “I mean, we were in a triage. The town really came together. It was a huge community effort.” Mardell and Janet Steines and at least one other person were in the wagon, Roling said. The wagon traveled 1,600 feet before the stampede ended near the corner of U.S. 52 and Iowa Highway 62. “One of the people ahead of this horse unit heard the people hollering and screaming,” Roling said. “He pulled his antique haybine out there to kind of slow them down. They ran into that, then they ran into a street sign and into the side of a van before they got them stopped.”

Steven Clemen lives along the parade route and watched the horses gallop past. “It was like a split second, and those horses were a half-block down the street,” he said. Crilly said she was collecting Tootsie Rolls from the street with her 8-year-old son, 12-year-old niece and 2-year-old granddaughter when the horses ran toward them about halfway through the parade. “I could see it was two horses,” Crilly said. “I could see they were running at full speed and they were harnessed together and I knew we were going to most certainly get hit, and as soon as it happened, everybody was crying and screaming.” Crilly, who was visiting her parents in Bellevue, said someone pulled her granddaughter to safety, but her niece was left with a broken left wrist and had two front teeth knocked out. Everyone else suffered bumps and bruises, she said. Bellevue, a town of about 2,300, is on the Mississippi River.

Click the button below to donate to the Bellevue Parade Victims Fund:

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