By Elaine Rassel
What’s going on at the Hall of Progress? I saw quite a number of young people all dressed up. I went inside and found out there was going to be a youth parade that was just a few minutes away.
The announcer informed the audience that because Marcus was celebrating its Sesquicentennial, this year there was a special category called “Pride in the Past”. The first two to begin the parade were Bensen and Gracelyn Rassel. They were dressed as kids their age would have been dressed 150 years ago! Their parents were Jesse and Amber Rassel.
Other early pioneer dressed youth were Fallan and Veda Spieler whose parents were Jacob and Jacey Spieler. Hayden Olson was next_parents were Jim and Katie Olson.
Here come three Graycen, Charlee , and Atley Ruden whose parents were Cody and Chelsea Ruden.
Noah and Olivia Feldman followed. Parents were Jesse and Nathan Feldman.
Here come Addison, Andy and Gus Strader coming as a train! (Parents are Becky and Scott Strader. Grandparents are Chuck and Julie Sand as well as Leone and Jim Hoefling.
Another family group in this parade included Avery, Allie, and Levi Priebe (Parents are Matt and Abby Priebe), Abram and Esther Markworth (Parents are Nate and Laura Markworth) and Brock Kemna (Parents area Eric and Molly Kemna). Grandparents for this group area Bill and Deb Mayer.
Wearing historical family centennial outfits were Adeline McCauley and Sean McCauley (Parents were Jarred and Rachel McCauley). Ella Stewart (Parents were Elton and Anna Stewart). Gayle Ducommun Hearne is grandmother of these children and Pat Ducommun is Great-grandmother of the group.)
The WINNER in this group was Theo Schultz (Samantha and Tyler Schultz) and Matt and Sam Taylor (Parents were Jacob and Sarah Taylor). This group was representing Claud Grey’s Garage from the past.
Group Number Two was “What I Want To Be”. Kylee Olson (Parents were Jim and Kathie Olson). Anna Schneider (Parents were Jonathan and Sara Schneider).
The Ogren Family paraders were Kendall (Parents were David and Malina), Jocelyn, Jocelyn, Roman, Meredith, and Kinsel (Parents were Celeste and Adrian and Garrett and Abbi.
Brewer included Judah, Jonie, and Eleanoar (Parents were Jim and Meredith Brewel and Pat Ducommun is Great-grandmother of these kids.)
Willow Dreckman whose mother is Mandy Dreckman was the WINNER of this group.
Group Number Three was “Little Characters”.
Hannah Hoefling (Parents were Andrew and Samantha Hoefling) and Murphy Wallway (Parents were Alex and Chad Wallway).
Tori Pick (Parents were Jesse and Shelly Pick).
Lena and Kayson Kohn (Parents were Kyle and Lorna Kohn).
Lyla Bertagnolli and Colton Pettepier (Parents present were Jill Bird and Sara Bird).
Heidi, Kurtis, and Garrett (Parents were John and Kelly Peters).
Isaac, Norah, Eunice, Tabitha Greene (Parents were Scott and Janelle Greene. Great-Grandmother of the children is pat Ducommun.
Winner of this category was Ethan, Elliott, and Liam Dreckman (Parents were Matt and Cait Dreckman.)
Group Four was “Wheels”.
Alayah Rolfes (Parents were Dylan Rolfes and Anna Wharton).
Amelia, Aubrey, and Ainsley were the WINNERS of this category. (Parents were Brian and Rachael Tuttle).
The OVER-ALL WINNER was Addison, Andy and Gus Strader from the “Pride in the Past” category as train cars. There is a story that goes with this entry. Sands of Iowa Train Cars_Sands of Iowa bought a10 blue train cars in 1981. The cars were used to ship corn and soybeans to the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. Each car could hold 3600 bushels of corn or 3350 bushels of soybeans. That same year, the Lionel Collectors Club chose the Sands of Iowa train car to be their 10th Anniversary Model Car.
Not all the entries could be picked as winners but yet, they WERE WINNERS. All those that were in the parade received a gift bag_ride tickets, a $1, a ribbon and some candy.
(The aforementioned information was taken from the lists handed to me after the parade. Hopefully I didn’t eliminate or misspell a name of someone. Thanks to those that gave me the lists.)