Editor’s Note- In light of this weekend’s red, white and blue festivities and considering I feel like I’m drowning in work, I’m going to bunt a bit this week and reshare my column from a few years ago about the beloved Lake City Fourth of July parade. Hope to see you all there on Saturday!
Happy 4th of July! I hope you will be taking time to enjoy festivities with your family and friends.
As I was mulling over a holiday-themed topic for my column this week, I was also eagerly anticipating the parade and decided that a dive into that event would be the ticket.
I had a vague idea of the origins of the parade, but asked around for more information. I was pointed in the direction of Duane Johnson and Chuck Guy.
Chuck credits the origins of the parade to his neighbor Duane Johnson. Chuck said he and Duane had some old rigs that they thought they might drive down Main Street as a ‘parade’ around the 4th. Duane pulled a tractor and trailer filled with grandkids and Chuck had an old truck that promoted Charlie’s Resort. The first parade was made of a whopping two entries.
Duane kept a photo album of the first several years of the parade and photo evidence reveals that year two included several more entries, including yours truly driving a four-wheeler with a new calf in a pen….something I can’t say I remember well.
In the following years, the event really took off. Pretty soon a dozen and then several dozen entries were lining up by the old schoolhouse lot to drive the loop around Lake City for the parade. Chuck thinks that the number of entries topped out in the eighties in the not too distant past. Because of the sheer number of entries, I don’t think they do this anymore, but the floats used to make the loop around town twice during the parade so everybody had time to get a good look and entries could really get their money’s worth. (There’s no cost to enter of course.)
In the first years, the crowd might have been small but the attendance grew quickly. As the event grew and word spread, the Lake City parade became a Fourth of July mainstay. There have been some years where cars were lined up on the highway to get into town and they had to delay starting the parade so people could find a spot to park and watch the procession.
There are still many tractors and classic vehicles in the parade, but over the years, the variety of entries grew as well. There are decorated boats, kids on bikes with streamers, traditional floats, the local Shriners’ silly vehicles, and who could forget our local celebrity’s participation in the parade- Philadelphia Eagle and Britton native, Dallas Goedert riding a unicycle.
Over the years, my family had many varied entries in the parade. In addition to pulling the calf, I remember decorating dad’s boat one year, while another I drove a four-wheeler carrying several brand new puppies from my grandpa’s farm dog. The most recent time I remember taking part included driving a pickup with my mom standing in the bed using my tiny karaoke machine to belt out “God Bless America” repeatedly throughout the route until she was hoarse. I tried my best to drive slow and steady, but I can’t say that there weren’t a few taps on the brakes that sent mom careening forward into the cab of the truck with a significant amount of force. It was a great time. There were a few other significant family entries through the years, but those deserve their own column at a later date.
When asked how he feels about being at the beginning of an event that has stood the test of time, Chuck said, “It makes me feel real good that people enjoy it. I appreciate that it’s still going on, and I hope people keep doing it when we’re gone.”
Well Chuck and Duane, I guarantee that we will, and we will always remember you fondly for this special contribution to Lake City and the area far beyond!
This year, let’s make the parade bigger and better than ever as we celebrate the country’s 250th birthday!
