They all agree: Grand Parade is just grand

SANDPOINT – Kids sat on the curb, wearing shorts, sandals and sunglasses. Their eyes widened and they clapped as each float and display idled past.

They cheered for the antique John Deere tractors, the Shetland ponies and the appaloosa horses in parades Saturday at the Lake Pend Oreille towns of Sandpoint and Bayview.

Adults walked with lattes and water bottles in hand as thousands lined the streets in Sandpoint for the annual Grand Parade, which officially began the city’s Independence Day celebration a day early.

It featured the old standards: Boy and Girl Scouts, teams of horses, Shriners, two bagpipe groups, hot rods, classic cars and sirens blaring from sheriff’s SUVs. But being North Idaho, it also had that local flavor in the form of log trucks, semis and even a gravel truck.

Leni Marshall of Minneapolis sat along the parade route in a folding chair with her twin 5-year-olds, Mara and Sylvia. Earlier, the twins took part in the kids parade.

“It’s great,” Marshall said as Mara pointed at the old tractors. “I’ve been coming here since I was their age. We live in Minnesota but we’re here for the Fourth of July. I think I’ve missed four parades in the past 30 years.”

The Grand Parade is part of the Marshall family tradition, she said.

“There are bigger parades and firework displays, but the community feeling here is unmatchable,” she said.

Sylvia ate a big apple and Mara chewed on a peanut butter sandwich. Each assessed the parade in the same way: “Good.”

While most floats earned applause or cheers, the Panhandle Animal Shelter created a different kind of noise. Dozens of dogs held on leashes by parade viewers barked in protest as volunteers walked past with dogs wearing signs reading, “Adopt Me.”

“I think it’s great,” said Peter Coupe, who was visiting with his wife, Shari, from Mount Laurel, N.J.

As they talked, a dozen horses and riders passed. “I think the guys with the wheelbarrows should get a bigger cheer,” Coupe said.

“We are thoroughly enjoying the parade and the beautiful town,” Shari Coupe said. “It feels like a real community.”

The Coupes came to Sandpoint with Pat Bickle. Her son, Jay Bickle, moved here from New Jersey in 1996.

“It’s the best parade,” Pat Bickle said. “We’ve been coming every 4th of July since 1996.”

Peter Coupe said he was impressed by the variety of entrants. “I like the sense of participation from everybody. Everyone had a hand in it.”

Farther south, hundreds lined the streets to kick off Bayview Daze.

After the parade, which featured more ATVs than horses, crowds gathered for a classic car show and booths selling the likes of sunglasses, artistic metal salmon, necklaces, bird houses, cooking aprons and magic tricks.

Bill and Carole Kemper drove up from Coeur d’Alene.

“The parade had a lot of kids, a lot of variety,” Bill Kemper said. “It was absolutely fabulous.”

Carole Kemper fell in love with a classic Mercedes-Benz with a rumble seat.

“I’d kill for it,” she said. “We also saw some uses for the American flag this weekend that I didn’t know you could do.”

Folks wore flag hats, flag shirts and flag bandannas. They had flag hubcaps, flag crowns and stick-on glitter in red, white and blue.

“It’s good community fun,” Bill said. “It’s especially nice for a couple old folks like us.”