Fourth of July celebration successful yet again
The Onaway Fourth of July celebration and parade went very well according to chamber of commerce executive director Bev Brougham. ?I believe we had in excess of 10,000 people at the parade. The streets were lined and packed. For a town of fewer than $1,000 people to bring in that many people is just awesome,? said Brougham.
Stepping Stones Garden Club took first place honors in the float contest. Second place went to the Onaway Queen?s court float sponsored by Brewbakers and third went to the Nautical Festival Queen?s Court. Community of Christ Church of Onaway earned honorable mention honors for their float.
?The vendors were all successful and we were successful minus a few minor mishaps. The heat played a factor that is for sure, we could have definitely used more water, but we aren?t going to complain about sunshine,? said Brougham.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) barbecue chicken dinners once again sold out an
The street dance on Friday was very well received as more than 100 people were in attendance and Brougham said that even some people driving by stopped to give donations because they enjoyed the music.
The weekend festivities wrapped up with a fireworks display, which despite the bad economy was a good one. ?The fireworks were some of the best we have ever had. Big towns all over had to cancel fireworks due to funding and we were still able to pull together and put them on, and they ended up being better than ever,? said Brougham.
Prior to the grand parade Brougham was walking around collecting donations for the fireworks when one gentleman stopped her and explained to her that he comes to Onaway for the Fourth of July every year from North Carolina before handing her some money to make sure their would be fireworks next year.