Beaver Island Fourth of July celebration, 1985

Summary

Beaver Island’s July 4, 1985 celebration was organized by the Beaver Island Civic Association under Festival Chairman Diane Scripps, in the same year the association marked its 30th anniversary (dated to 1955) with a dinner at the Circle M. The day ran carnival set-up, a parade led by Grand Marshal Cindy Gillespie, an evening carnival, and fireworks funded jointly by the Civic Association, Holy Cross Catholic Church, and St. James and Peaine townships. This is the richest single-year program record held for this series: the Beaver Beacon’s report names a four-person parade committee, three float-prize winners, and roughly twenty carnival-booth volunteers.

Program

Schedule, as reported: carnival set-up 3:00 p.m.; parade line-up 5:00 p.m.; parade 6:30 p.m.; carnival 7:30 p.m.; fireworks at dark.

Parade. Grand Marshal Cindy Gillespie led the parade with a committee of Paul Cole, Kevin Green, and Laurel Cole. Threatening morning clouds cleared before the event. Reported float entries and themes included: Island Tours, the Christian Church, the B.I. Historical Society (Strang and wives), the B.I. Civic Association (its own 30-year anniversary), the B.I. Community School, “Martha Miller’s Roaring Twenties,” the B.I. Fire Department’s squadron, the C.M.U. Biological Station, the Shamrock Bar, a tribute to Ernest Tubb by “Richie and Marv,” Maple Woods Farm, Ron Wojan Construction Co., vintage Heflin cars, the B.I. Golf Course, Harbor View II, Dockside Market, McDonough’s Market (50 years), Martin and McPherson (a Boston Tea Party theme), Bonadeo Enterprises, Hayhoe’s Army, Island Airways, Bud Martin’s Construction, and the King Strang Condo Club, along with sign carriers, baton twirlers, clowns, horses, and children. Float prizes went to Ron Wojan Construction Co., Central Michigan University (Biological Station), and Martin and McPherson’s “Tea Party” entry.

Carnival. Booths and their volunteers, as printed: Fish Pond (Jennifer Vyse, Priscilla Cupp); Balloons and Dart (Mr. and Mrs. Phil Skinner); Milk Bottle/Ball Toss (Kitty McNamara, Matt Marston); Cork Gun Target (Dave Roop); Duck Pond (Marilyn Damstra); Pocket Lady (Carolyn Works); Bake Sale (Mary Ann Omer); Refreshments (Shaun Markey); Face Painting (Beth Croswhite, Cindy Gillespie, Ruthie Gregg); Penny Pitch (Nancy Sommer, Alvin LaFreniere); Picture Buttons (Joe Cunningham, Kathy Speck); Homemade Arts and Crafts (Sherry Burris); Sucker Tree (Laurie Gillingham, “Kim,” C.M.U. people); Pony Rides (Joan Petrak); Helium Balloons (Joddy Croswhite, Michelle Cupp, “Beth,” C.M.U. people). A Cabbage Patch doll donated by Loretta Slater was raffled, raising close to $200 and won by Kendra Wogan, age 5 (“Dinah Hedda” was the doll’s name as printed).

Fireworks. Funded from a combined $1,200 budget reported in May: Holy Cross Catholic Church $200, Civic Association $200, St. James Township $400, and Peaine Township $400, with the fireworks bought jointly with Petoskey and Harbor Springs “at a better price” and shown on both July 4 and Homecoming weekend. The McDonough brothers set off the display.

Thanks. The Civic Association’s printed thank-you, signed by Diane Scripps, additionally names Dan Higdon (advertising sign), Mr. and Mrs. Phil Skinner (carnival stakes), the Beachcomber and B.I. Boat Co. and Jean LaFreniere (waterfront property for the carnival), and unnamed “ladies who brought baked goods.”

Significance

The 1985 fireworks budget is the only year in this held run for which the funding sources are documented at all: Holy Cross Catholic Church, the Civic Association, and both St. James and Peaine townships each contributed, and the display was bought jointly with Petoskey and Harbor Springs to get a lower price. Read together with the Civic Association’s own 30-year-anniversary dinner that June, the record shows the mid-1980s celebration resting on several island institutions rather than one sponsor. Diane Scripps’s stated goal of running the carnival “so we can show a profit instead of just breaking even” also documents a shift, at least in intent, from a break-even community event toward one expected to raise money.

Evidence limits

This is a set of contemporary newspaper accounts (an anniversary feature, a pre-event preview, and a post-event report), not an attendance count or audited financial statement. No venue beyond general references to the Medical Center (parade line-up), the Beachcomber, and B.I. Boat Co. waterfront property (carnival site) is resolved to an existing place or structure article here, so spatial_status is approximate rather than known. The names above are transcribed as printed; garbled or ambiguous OCR renderings (“Kim,” “Beth” without surnames) are kept as printed rather than expanded.

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes