ST. PETER — As fireworks boomed overhead and patriotic Americans ate their fill of hot dogs and potato salad, the Govenaires had a less festive Independence Day celebration.
The St. Peter-based drum and bugle corps was on its way to its first show of the season in La Crosse, Wisconsin, when heavy rains threw a wrench into their plans.
As the group approached Elgin, the midway point where they planned to rest for the night, a strong downpour caused one of the Govenaires’ trucks hauling a supply trailer to veer off the road and into the ditch, said Matthew Sanders, corps director.
Emergency medical services checked out everyone involved in the crash on the scene. One person had minor injuries, and the other two were released without any apparent injuries, according to Sanders.
The Govenaires’ trailer and supplies didn’t fare as well.
Stretching a little over 10 feet long, the trailer fell to its side, bending its towing tongue and likely breaking the wheel that was jammed into the ground. The truck was insured, but the trailer and its contents were not.
“We are considering the trailer to likely be a total loss,” Sanders said. “The cost to repair the damages to it is probably well beyond the cost to replace the trailer.”
The Govenaires had already been considering changing their transportation system because of their program’s growth, but the accident has forced them to face that question sooner.
Luckily, the community has stepped up to help.
The Govenaires launched a GoFundMe campaign last week to replace the essential items. Within the first 24 hours, they’d already surpassed what Sanders thought their total would be.
“So far the community has outstripped my expectation for their generosity,” Sanders said.
What started as a $3,000 goal has been increased to $6,500 by GoFundMe’s algorithm, and the donations continue to pour in.
“No one wants an accident like this, right? But the way the community is supporting us, it just means so much, and I’m sort of at a loss for words for how to describe how much it means to us that they’ve been so giving,” Sanders said.
The trailer was hauling the group’s food service supplies and merchandise. Among those was a black stone griddle and turkey roasters that the Govenaires use to cook corps’ meals.
“A lot of those got banged up and weren’t really salvageable for our purposes after the accident,” Sanders said.
Some of the dry food they carried split open in the accident and spilled onto the merchandise, leaving stains on the group’s t-shirts and tanks.
Sanders estimates it’ll cost between $2,000 and $3,000 to replace the food items. The trailer replacement could easily add another $4,000 to $5,000 onto that, although the corps doesn’t know exactly what the new trailer will be.
“We will replace the capacity that the trailer was giving us, but we just don’t know what form that’ll take. Whether it’s a trailer of the same sort of size, or if we maybe do something different,” Sanders said.
Those looking to support the Govenaires can donate to their GoFundMe campaign at https://gofund.me/217ff0a6a.