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Event

Beaver Island Fourth of July 1995

Also Nautical-theme Fourth of July 1995

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date1995-07-04
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
1995-07-04
Kind
Celebration
Carried out by
Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce
Followed by
Beaver Island Fourth of July 1996
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunitytourism
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Beaver Island’s 1995 Fourth of July ran under a nautical parade theme organized by the Chamber of Commerce, with Lisa Vance-Gillespie as Parade Chairman. The Beacon called it afterward “the biggest and best that anyone has seen in years.”

Program

The July 1995 Beacon announced the nautical theme with a call to “Float Captains” from Vance-Gillespie: “dust off your life ring…polish up your poop decks,” with floats (“our armada”) forming at 12:30 pm at the Medical Center. The same issue previewed a newly-ordered fireworks show, a whole-family carnival needing volunteers for game “shill” duty and setup/teardown, and the Chamber’s annual Super Raffle for an all-expense-paid luxury trip, with Skip McDonough again serving as “Skipper.” The August 1995 report calls the parade “the biggest and best that anyone has seen in years,” thanking Mel Bellamy for his sound system and harbor aerobatics and Bill Palladino for announcing. It names four “best of the best” entries: CMU’s “Nature’s Navigator”; Beaver Island Boutique’s “Beaver”; a joint entry by Beaver Island Gift Shop and McDonough’s Market, “Beaver Islander”; and Beaver Island Realty’s “Three Boys In A Tub” — plus a long list of other named entries including Island Airways’ fly-by, the Police Department, the Armed Forces, the Fire Department, the Ambulance, an “Ambassador from Hog Island,” the King Strang Club, several named bikers, Gillespie’s Oil & Transit, a “Gull Harbor Land Yacht,” and a horse-and-cart entry from Beaver Island Forestry.

Evidence limits

The August report describes the parade in detail but does not give a proceeds figure for the carnival, the fireworks, or the Super Raffle for 1995, nor does it name a winner of the raffle trip.

Open questions

  • Who won the 1995 Chamber Super Raffle trip, and where did it go?
  • What were the carnival’s or fireworks’ costs or proceeds this year?

See also

Sources

  1. Previews the holiday: "4th of July The Committees are humming...this one should be one of the very best!" The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1995-06_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held eighteen-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1995-06_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Announces a nautical parade theme with Parade Chairman Lisa Vance-Gillespie inviting "Float Captains" to bring "nautical notions," floats forming at 12:30 pm at the Medical Center; previews a fireworks show, a whole-family carnival needing volunteers, and the Chamber's annual Super Raffle for an all-expense-paid trip, with Skip McDonough as "Skipper." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1995-07_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held twenty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1995-07_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Reports "This year's parade was the biggest and best that anyone has seen in years," thanking Mel Bellamy for sound system and aerial acrobatics over the harbor and Bill Palladino for announcing; names best-of-the-best entries CMU's "Nature's Navigator," Beaver Island Boutique's "Beaver," Beaver Island Gift Shop & McDonough's Market's "Beaver Islander," and Beaver Island Realty's "Three Boys In A Tub," plus a long list of other named entries, signed by Lisa Vance Gillespie. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1995-08_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held twenty-four-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1995-08_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Fourth of July 1995”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-fourth-of-july-1995/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, June 1995, "Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce - May '95." (and 5 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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