Small Town Celebrations

The Upper Peninsula is comprised of many small towns that are dotted across the peninsula. I guess you could say there isn't one large city located here, because Marquette is even considered small at 20,000 people. Whatever the case, the U.P.'s many small towns help give the peninsula its character and honestly, it wouldn't be the U.P. without them. And even though these communities are small, the people within them definitely know how to have a good time. More often that not, each community has one or two town gatherings that allows everyone to get together and celebrate the community. Some communities may call it a founder's celebration or a homecoming event. Whatever the case, it brings everyone together and even gets people used to live in that one particular community to come back from time to time. It's an event unlike any other.

Several communities across the U.P. hold celebrations on the Fourth of July that bring many members of the community together. Marquette, Ishpeming, Big Bay, Trenary, Munising, Gladstone, Escanaba, Michigamme, and Curtis are just a few that hold Fourth of July celebrations that are great community-wide events. For many years, my family and I went to the small town of Trenary and took part in the activities there. Trenary is a small town of roughly 250 people made most famous for its Trenary Toast (made by the Trenary Home Bakery) and the Outhouse races in the winter. And it seems most recently, the Fourth of July celebration has taken a backseat to the more popular Outhouse Classic which takes place in later February. The Outhouse Classic draws thousands of people to this small town. And yet I find the Fourth of July celebration to be much more appealing. For one, it takes place in the summer season and you're not freezing your behind off. And it also incorporates a couple of my favorite things about a town celebration: a parade and fireworks. It brings together not just people from the Trenary community itself, but others from Chatham, Eben, Rapid River, Sundell, and Forest Lake. Just one example of what a community-wide event like a Fourth of July celebration can do.

And then there are "Founding"-type events held in a variety of U.P. communities. Following the Fourth of July, the city of Negaunee holds a week-long Pioneer Days celebration. Not only do they have a parade and cap the entire week off with fireworks, but there's also an alumni baseball tournament which helps bring members of the graduating classes of Negaunee back to take part in the tournament. I know there's two separate classes in the baseball tournament, one for the older graduating classes and one for the most recent graduating classes. Either case, it still looks like a great event had by everyone. I kind of wish they'd do something similar in our community, yet our area is so much smaller than Negaunee and our graduating classes weren't nearly as big. Still, I'm sure it'd be fun however we'd get it to work. Negaunee's Pioneer Days has all kinds of events tied into that one week so it's definitely a celebration everyone of all ages can enjoy.

In my hometown of Chatham, during July 31 to August 2, the Chatham Homecoming Celebration will take place in conjunction with the Alger County Fair. Years ago, both events were separate from each other and took place during different weekends. It was decided to combine both events into one weekend and help draw a bigger crowd to both events and that turned out to be a great idea. More people than ever attend the combined event, which includes a variety of activites in three days. One of the highlights for me is the Homecoming Parade which takes place along the highway in Chatham. It's not the biggest parade in the world, yet it's always fun to see the different floats that people put in the parade. And if you have kids, they'll certainly pick up their fair share of candy from the parade! More often than not, there's several old cars, horses, and old farming equipment that people put on display in the parade. And then you get to see many familiar faces on the variety of reunion floats. It's honestly one big reunion celebration and it's neat to see an event bring so many people back to such a small community. There's nothing like it, to be honest.

I just scratched the surface on just a few of many events that take place across the Upper Peninsula in its small towns. It you are interested in finding out about a specific event taking place in the U.P., please leave a comment for me after this blog and I'll try to find out some information for you. Either that, or you can search on-line and you should be able to find some information about a specific event. Whatever the case, it's quite easy to find something to do in one of Upper Michigan's communities. It's why I consider summer to be the U.P.'s best season to enjoy.

Summer & the Fourth of July

We are quickly approaching the Fourth of July holiday and for me, once we get to that point of the summer, the rest of the season goes by so fast. That's not to say this summer hasn't already gone by quick, because it has. But that's pretty much how it's always been. The greatest season of them all in the Upper Peninsula (for me at least) always goes by way too fast. That just gives me all the more reason to enjoy it while I can. Because by the time October and November roll around, it won't be long until the snow starts flying. Even more unbelievable to me is that 2010 is nearly half over. The first year of the new decade is about half-way through the books! Honestly, where does the time go?

I am rather disappointed I wasn't able to snag the Fourth of July holiday off from work this year. Last year I happened to have that weekend off and my sister from Wisconsin also came up - so we were able to enjoy the holiday together as a family. It didn't work out as well this year, but I still do plan on enjoying the holiday as much as I can. Growing up, it was always my favorite holiday of the warm season. We'd always go to this small town parade in one of the nearby communities and although the parade was small, at least the floats made up for its shortness by going around the parade route twice! We always picked up a ton of candy from the event. I think there were only a couple of other times where we went to a different community with a larger Fourth of July celebration - otherwise we always went to this small town. We knew plenty of people there and it really was the epitome of a small town - everybody knew everyone!

But probably my most favorite part about the holiday overall is the fireworks. The last five years, I've been able to enjoy the fireworks display that the city of Marquette lights off. I think there was only one year where the fireworks disappointed me - and that was the year they didn't receive near as many donations as in previous years, and it really showed. Lately though, the fireworks displays in the city of Marquette have been spectacular. I'm not sure if I'll venture into the city this year as the Fourth of July lands on a day where I have to work a 12-hour shift, so I guess it'll depend on how I feel that evening as to whether or not I'll make the short drive into town to watch the fireworks. Then once it's over, I'll have to go right to bed for work the next morning. We'll see; it's not that far off now.

So whether you have the holiday weekend off or are one of the unfortunate people to be working, at least try and set aside some time to spend it with family and friends. It's never a good idea to be alone on an important holiday like the Fourth of July. Of course it's not like Christmas or Easter, which are important religious holidays. Yet, it's the day we celebrate our country's birthday, and it shouldn't be forgotten. July 4, 1776 was the day we declared our freedom from England and we're still going strong as a country. Sure, we've had our fair share of bumps in the road, but I don't see us going away as a country for a very, very long time. God bless America indeed.

Independence

Ah the Fourth of July. It's one of my all-time favorite holidays and it always holds a special place in my heart. Even though I am an adult now - the holiday is still extra special for me. The fireworks have always been my favorite aspect of the holiday, but the parades aren't bad either. Today, I witnessed a spectacular parade here in Marquette, MI - one that lasted well over an hour. If we weren't worried about being boxed into a dead-end street for a couple of hours, we would've stayed for the whole thing. So we exited a little bit early to avoid the traffic jams. Still, what we witnessed was superb and hopefully next year I'll be lucky enough to have the day off again.

Marquette wasn't always our home to view the parade. Back when I was just a young boy, we'd always venture out to the small town of Trenary which was only 15 miles away from our hometown. This community's population is roughly about 300 people, but on the Fourth of July, it swelled to over ten times that. Crowds would like the streets of Trenary anxious for the parade to begin. It's one of the things I enjoyed most about summer was the Fourth of July and witnessing the parade and getting a bagful of candy. One of the neat aspects about attending a Fourth of July parade in Trenary is that the floats actually go around the parade route twice. So once you saw the very first float come back for a second time, you knew you'd get to see everything again one last time - just in case you didn't get a good enough glimpse the first time around. The parades weren't extremely flashy or for that matter very long, either. Usually they'd display the township's fire trucks, the township ambulance, school and family reunion floats, horses, the school's band, kids on bikes, a float advertising for the next outhouse classic race during the next upcoming winter, so on and so forth. When you're a kid, it doesn't matter what the floats are - just that they have candy to hand out! But the last time I attended the Trenary Fourth of July parade (back in 2003, I'd say), I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed (please, don't kill me for saying so!!). It just seemed so short and uninspiring to me - and maybe I didn't have that small-town spirit going on that day. But it just didn't seem the same to me as it did when I was little. It's not like I could stick around on that day either, because I had to go in for afternoon shift a couple of hours later. Maybe that diminished my enthusiasm quite a bit. But I must say, the parade here in Marquette is fantastic. A countless number of fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, civic organizations, military groups marching, etc. Since I had the day off, I could enjoy what was going on and I didn't feel like I had to rush off to be somewhere.

For as small as Trenary is - the fireworks have always seemed adequate. They were what you'd expect a small-town fireworks display to be. But during the last few times I've seen the fireworks in Trenary, they were much improved from what I remembered when I was a kid. In fact, last year I viewed both Marquette's and Trenary's fireworks displays and Trenary's was the best, hands-down. Marquette's Fourth of July Committee was hurting for money during last year's celebration and weren't able to come up with the funds to put on a spectacular fireworks show. That is why they seemed to disappointing compared to previous years and why Trenary's was probably much better. However, I have heard that the Fourth of July Committee here in Marquette raised more than enough money to put on a spectacular fireworks display - so that is excellent news for those that live here (oddly enough, the fireworks will be shot off tomorrow and not on the 4th). I am not able to view the fireworks display in Trenary this year (due to me having to work at 5:30 AM tomorrow!!), but I know that they will be better than ever! And I will always have the memories of attending the fireworks there with my family for many years. It will always be my first home to Fourth of July celebrations and I will never forget them.

Here's hoping all of my blog readers out there enjoyed their Fourth of July and to get out and enjoy the fireworks!! Celebrate our nation's birthday and be thankful for all that we have.