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Event

Beaver Island holds its 2006 Fourth of July, "Priceless"

Also 2006 July 4th on Beaver Island: Priceless

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date2006-07-04
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
2006-07-04
Kind
Celebration
Where
Holy Cross Catholic Church building
Carried out by
Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce · Beaver Island Civic Association
Followed by
Beaver Island holds its 2007 Fourth of July Parade and Carnival
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunitytourismsports
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Beaver Island’s 2006 Fourth of July carried the Chamber of Commerce’s theme “July 4th on Beaver Island: Priceless”: a noon Community Choir performance, a 2:00 p.m. parade, jet fly-overs including Island Airways’ “Missing Man” formation, an eleven-boat evening boat parade through the harbor, and fireworks after dark. The Beaver Island Youth Consortium ran the Fourth of July Carnival on the Holy Cross Catholic Church lawn, and a separate annual golf tournament drew about 90 golfers.

History

The June 2006 Beacon reported the Chamber board’s theme choice and the day’s opening schedule: noon patriotic music from the Community Choir, with the parade “kicking off at 2:00 from the corner by Holy [Cross …]” (the Beacon’s own text is cut off at a page break here). The same issue reports the Beaver Island Youth Consortium had craft tables ready and was seeking a non-profit food vendor for the Carnival. Separately, the June issue reports that at the Civic Association’s own annual meeting that year, the organization “elected its board and pledged to manage the July 4th Parade and Carnival” alongside its tourist office, Harbor Beautification project, and the Beacon’s continuing publication — current 2006 reporting, not a retrospective item. The July 2006 issue’s post-event photo page summarizes the day as “live music, tap dancing, jets so close it seemed impossible they would not touch, Island Airways Missing Man formation, and a parade in the afternoon; an entourage of eleven decorated boats playing rock and roll and looping lazily through the harbor at dusk…and a glorious display of fireworks after dark.” The Youth Consortium’s August thank-you names the Carnival’s site as “the Holy Cross Catholic Church[’s]…lawn, power, and water supply,” its Dunk Tank as the most popular attraction, and the McDonough’s Market and Beaver Island Electric and Fire Department as in-kind supporters; Jean Gillespie won the 50/50 raffle and donated her winnings back to the Consortium. The separate Fourth of July golf tournament drew about 90 golfers and was won by a team including course owner John Works, Jr., with a four-under-par 31.

Significance

The 2006 celebration shows the Fourth of July drawing on at least three distinct organizations in a single year — the Chamber of Commerce (parade theme and schedule), the Civic Association (a formal management pledge made at its own annual meeting), and the Beaver Island Youth Consortium (the Carnival itself, run on land donated by Holy Cross Catholic Church) — alongside an independently organized golf tournament that the Beacon already described as having “become a large part of the traditional Fourth of July activities.” The Youth Consortium’s public thanks to McDonough’s Market, Beaver Island Electric, and the Fire Department for in-kind support, and its report of a raffle winner donating her prize back to the organization, are typical of how the day’s individual components were funded through island businesses and volunteers rather than through a single event budget.

Evidence and limits

Two organizations are named as responsible for different parts of the same day in the same month’s held issue: the Chamber of Commerce selected the parade theme and timing, while the Civic Association’s own annual meeting pledged to manage “the July 4th Parade and Carnival,” and the Youth Consortium separately ran the Carnival itself. This is recorded as found; it is not resolved into a single organizer here, and the apparent overlap between the Chamber and a still-active Civic Association is flagged below rather than silently reconciled. The June 2006 parade-start location is cut off mid-sentence in the held OCR text at a page break, so only “the corner by Holy” is quoted rather than a complete location; the adjacent 2005 and 2007 Beacon issues both state the parade started “from Holy Cross Church,” which makes the same start point plausible for 2006, but that is an inference from neighboring years and not a direct statement about 2006 itself.

Open questions

  • Is the “Civic Association” that pledged in June 2006 to manage the Parade and Carnival the same organization as organization/beaver-island-civic-association (last securely documented running this series through the mid-1970s), a revived successor under the same name, or an unrelated body — and how does this square with the general understanding that the Civic Association’s role ended by the late 1980s?
  • Where, precisely, did the 2006 parade begin, given the mid-sentence break in the held June issue?
  • Did the Chamber, the Civic Association, and the Youth Consortium each run a distinct piece of the same day’s program, or does the source reflect some overlap or transition between these organizations?

See also

Sources

  1. The Youth Consortium requested donated bags for children's carnival prizes and discussed using a prior McDonough's Market donation. This first-party preparation notice adds evidence of volunteer logistics, not attendance, prize inventory, or completion.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000618
  2. The Beaver Beacon, June 2006, "July 4th."
    Reports "The Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce board selected, 'July 4th on Beaver Island: Priceless' as this year's parade theme. Patriotic music featuring the Community Choir will begin at noon this year, with the parade kicking off at 2:00 from the corner by Holy [Cross, text continues on a following page]." The same issue reports the Beaver Island Youth Consortium had craft tables available and was seeking a non-profit food vendor for the Fourth of July Carnival. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-06_Beaver-Beacon
  3. The held forty-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 · 2006-06_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The Beaver Beacon, June 2006, Civic Association annual meeting report.
    Reports "At the Civic Association's annual meeting, it elected its board and pledged to manage the July 4th Parade and Carnival, a tourist office...the annual Harbor Beautification, and the continuing publication of the Beacon." This is current 2006 reporting, not a retrospective column. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-06_Beaver-Beacon
  5. The held forty-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 · 2006-06_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The Beaver Beacon, July 2006, "Beaver Island's Fourth of July."
    Post-event photo-page summary: "Beaver Island's Fourth of July – priceless! Live music, tap dancing, jets so close it seemed impossible they would not touch, Island Airways Missing Man formation, and a parade in the afternoon; an entourage of eleven decorated boats playing rock and roll and looping lazily through the harbor at dusk (photos next month); and a glorious display of fireworks after dark." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-07_Beaver-Beacon
  7. The held forty-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 · 2006-07_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Sarah Owsinski, "Thanks, Much!," The Beaver Beacon, August 2006.
    The Beaver Island Youth Consortium director thanks volunteers for the Carnival, names a Dunk Tank as "our most popular attraction," and thanks "the Holy Cross Catholic Church for once again graciously allowing us to use their lawn, power, and water supply." Jean Gillespie won the 50/50 raffle and donated her winnings back to the BIYC. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-08_Beaver-Beacon
  9. The held forty-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 · 2006-08_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Frank Solle, Fourth of July golf tournament report, The Beaver Beacon, August 2006.
    Reports "some 90 golfers during the annual golf tournament at the Beaver Island Golf Course that has become a large part of the traditional Fourth of July activities," won by a team including course owner John Works, Jr., with a four-under-par 31. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-08_Beaver-Beacon
  11. The held forty-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 · 2006-08_Beaver-Beacon
  12. The Beaver Beacon, July 2005, Fourth of July program notice.
    States the 2005 parade, themed "Peace and Democracy on Beaver Island," started "from Holy Cross Church" at 2:00 p.m., with an Air National Guard jet fly-over, a cannon firing, and the Island Airways Missing Man fly-over -- cited only as comparative evidence for the likely 2006 parade start point, not as 2006 reporting. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2005-07_Beaver-Beacon
  13. The Beaver Beacon, July 2007, Fourth of July program notice.
    States the 2007 parade, themed "Water, Woods, Wonderland," would "start at Holy Cross Church at 2:00 pm," with Lisa Gillespie as Parade Master -- cited only as comparative evidence for the likely 2006 parade start point, not as 2006 reporting. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2007-07_Beaver-Beacon
  14. The held issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR Markdown source and preserves the issue-level provenance for this cited report or comparison.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2005-07_Beaver-Beacon
  15. The held issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR Markdown source and preserves the issue-level provenance for this cited report or comparison.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2007-07_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island holds its 2006 Fourth of July, "Priceless"”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-fourth-of-july-2006/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Island Forum topic 618, "Plastic Bags Needed for Carnival," June 13–14, 2006. (and 12 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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