Everyone Loves a Parade!

Everyone loves a parade, especially one that they can walk in or sashay down the street in to a Dixieland tune. Everyone in invited to join in the Parade led by the 1936 fire engine in Fox Lake on Saturday, May 17^th at 12:05 PM. This parade is part of the Bunny Berigan Jazz Jubilee, but everyone is welcome to walk in it. Bring an umbrella, wear a hat, put on your “swing” clothes or just come along and help hand out the beads that will be given to the parade watchers. The Parade will being at Mill Street and proceed down the middle of Fox Lake to the Community Building where the parade members will weave through the crowd gathering in the Community Room to hear the Larry Bush “Big” Band play at 1:00 PM.

The 1936 fire engine will not be blowing it’s horn, but that is not to say that horns will not be blowing. The Bunny Berigan Memorial Band, led by the one and only Rev. Al Townsend, will be perched atop the fire engine, playing the best Dixieland Jazz ever heard north of New Orleans. Members of the Bunny Berigan Memorial Band on the fire truck will be Don Chesebro on clarinet from Wisconsin Rapids, Steve Clay on string bass from Chippewa Falls, Paul Erickson on banjo from La Crosse, Pete Runde on trombone from Fond du Lac, Tom Wirkus on snare drum from Onalaska and piano man, Chuck Chihak from La Crescent, MI (he will be cheering them on because his piano will not fit on the truck). Of course the other musicians playing at the Jazz Jubilee might hitch a ride also because “who wants to miss a parade”. They are Rob Amster from Chicago, Jack Carr from Milwaukee, Kim Cusack from Warrenville, Il, Doug Finke from Louisville, KE, Guy Fiorenza from Rockford, Il, Bob Hirsch from Sacramento, CA, Rusty Jones from Chicago, Il, David MacGregor from Milwaukee, Jack Meilahan from Naperville, Il, Brad Pregeant from Colorado, Bobby Schulz from San Anselmo, CA, and Harold Smith from Beloit.

The 1936 fire engine is owned by the Fox Lake Fire Department and has been completely restored for use in parades and Fire Department activities. It took a lot of donated man hours to restore this fire truck and now it is one of the unique treasures in Fox Lake.

Everyone……join the parade as the Jazz Jubilee Committee and guests at the event “strut their stuff” down State Street in Fox Lake. The Parade is bound to be a true “traffic stopper.”