Good Old Days celebrates 30 years
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ST. IGNATIUS — This year’s 30th annual Good Old Days celebration and parade in St. Ignatius promises a myriad of games, food, family-oriented fun and of course, “the biggest small-town parade around.”
Parade director Debbie McCollum said the town celebration boasts more than 60 parade entries and 15 events spread over three days.
“We like to put the parade through town so people can grab a lawn chair and enjoy,” McCollum said. “It’s the longest parade in Lake County at over 1 mile.”
Just a few of the 15 scheduled events include a bike race, dog race, tug-of-war, buffalo run, fireworks and free young Eagle Flights for children ages 8 to 17 at the St. Ignatius airport during a display of general aviation aircraft.
Organizer Janice Richter is in charge of all events at the park. Last year, she added the tug-of-war event as a trial and promises a more organized event this year.
“I wish we could do a lot of the stuff we used to do. From what I understand, they used to race hospital beds down the street. I think that would be a lot of fun,” Richter said.
Parade narrator Les Rice said the town does a great job putting on the parade. The parade lasts between 45 minutes and 1 hour, and each year Rice spends the entirety of the parade suspended high above the street in a tree service truck.
“I tell people about the floats, who is on it, who made it, and I make fun of them as they pass. We have a good time,” Rice said.
Only missing two parades since the begining of Good Old days, Rice said one of his favorite parts of the event is when the volunteer fire department opens up a hose in front of Harvest Foods. The children in the area run out and get soaked.
“All the kids are psyched about that,” he said.
