Herndon After the Hoopla: A Small Town Shines 🚁

🚁 This video was taken the morning of June 14, 2026 — the day after the Herndon Ox Roast 2026 celebration in Herndon, Kansas. 🌾 The day before, Herndon had welcomed thousands of visitors for the parade, the Ox Roast meal, games, music, outhouse races, a Main Street dance, and a true small-town homecoming. But by the next morning, the excitement had settled, the streets were quieter, and the town was beginning to look like itself again. 🏡 That is what I wanted to capture in this flight — not the party, not the crowds, and not my own family story, but Herndon in its everyday form. The streets, the homes, the church, the school buildings, the grain elevators, the trees, the ball field, the roads leading out into the surrounding farm country — the real Herndon. 🙏 More than anything, this video is a thank you to the people of Herndon and everyone who helped make Ox Roast 2026 happen. A town of this size doesn’t host an event like that by accident. It takes planning, volunteers, cooking, serving, cleaning, organizing, decorating, directing traffic, setting up, tearing down, and a whole lot of pride. 🧹 When I was there that Sunday morning, you could already see people working to put the town back in order. That may not sound dramatic, but to me it said a lot. The celebration was over, the visitors were heading home, and the people of Herndon were still there doing the work — taking care of their town. 📜 Herndon has a long history for such a small place. It was originally called Pesth, named after Pest in Hungary, before later being renamed Herndon in honor of William H. Herndon, Abraham Lincoln’s law partner. The town is in Rawlins County, Kansas, and had a 2020 population of only 119 people — yet for Ox Roast, this little town opens itself up to visitors from all over. 🔥 The Herndon Ox Roast is held about every five years and is known for its parade, pit-smoked beef meal, music, games, cow patty bingo, outhouse races, and Main Street dance. Public descriptions of the event say it brings more than 2,000 travelers into this rural community. ❤️ To everyone who worked, cooked, served, cleaned, organized, donated, welcomed visitors, or simply helped make people feel at home — thank you. You gave hundreds and hundreds of people a memory they will carry with them for a long time. 🌤️ This flight is for Herndon — the town after the hoopla, still standing proud, quiet, and real. 🚁 Thanks for watching Above the Frontier! #AboveTheFrontier #HerndonKansas #OxRoast #SmallTownAmerica #DroneVideo