- Date
- 2009-07-04
- Kind
- Celebration
- Followed by
- Beaver Island holds its 2010 Fourth of July, "Looking to the Future with Strong Traditions"
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- celebrationcommunitytourismsports
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
Beaver Island’s 2009 Fourth of July carried the parade theme “Our Beaver Island Favorite” (person, place, thing, or time), and took place as planned: a cannon and an Island Airways flyover opened the parade, dozens of named floats and entries followed, a Carnival ran immediately after, and the Fifth Annual Clyde Fogg Memorial Lighted Boat Parade closed the evening with Mike Weede’s Resolute taking first place. A Fourth of July golf tournament the day before produced a record-low winning score for Team Houseman.
Program
The July 2009 Beacon’s calendar set out the weekend: a Fourth of July Golf Tournament on July 3, and on July 4 “the parade, the carnival, and enter your boat in the Clyde Fogg Memorial Boat Parade…enjoy fireworks over the harbor that evening,” with the parade theme “Our Beaver Island Favorite” (person, place, thing, time…). The same issue’s Carnival listing named the planned attractions immediately following the parade: Balloon/Darts, Bottle Toss, Duck Pond, Sucker Tree, Bucket Bonanza, Treasure Chest, Putt for Prize, Face Painting, a Bounce House, and a Dunk Tank with celebrities “to be announced,” plus popcorn, cotton candy, nachos, and bottled water. A boat-parade advertisement in the same issue, headed “Fifth Annual Clyde Fogg Memorial Fourth of July Lighted Boat Parade,” lists Mike Weede of Paradise Bay Dive Shop as contact — establishing that the boat parade began in 2005, since 2009 was its fifth running.
The parade
An untitled recap in the following month’s Beacon, headed only “The 4th,” confirms the day ran as planned. A cannon signaled the start and “raised the level of excitement,” followed a moment later by an Island Airways flyover that performed a “Missing Man” enactment on its second pass. The recap describes the procession as expansive: the sheriff, the AmVets, and the Fire Department “proudly sirening and flashing” ahead of the EMS and BIRHC raffle car; bikes, scooters, baby carriages, in-line skates, and a unicycle; a Music Fest entry; the Cady Clan; the Lodge towing “Cole’s Cabin”; Kevin Barry on his tractor; a commercial-fishing entry; the Paradise Bay Coffee Shop; the Hurkmans’ “Karaoki ORV”; a Central Michigan University entry with a giant butterfly with flapping wings and a live snake, chased by the winners of the High Island Toboggan Slide challenge; McDonough’s flatbed throwing candy and carrying a Stanley Cup; Jon Bonadeo’s GTO convertible; the Emerald Isle Gallery’s “Big George and the kids”; Mike Martin driving a newly restored Model A; an “Ambassador from Hog Island” leading a costumed “Hogath gang”; the Turners’ green truck; a scooter donated by the Beaver Island Community Center; a Beaver Island Marina wrecker driven by Adam Anderson; a Gillespie Enterprises truck; “Kayak Ken and the Luck of the Nelsons”; an Evans double-decker carrying thirty riders; a “Land’s Favorite BIOLOGISTS” float sign; and a mock wedding staged by the “Everything in its Place” entry. No byline is given for the recap, and it does not name a winner of the “Our Beaver Island Favorite” theme category.
The boat parade and golf tournament
A separate August 2009 report, “The Boat Parade,” by Lisa Gillespie, credits organizers Mike Weede and Ron Wojan with a stronger turnout than previous years and names the competitors: Ann Weber, Pat Nugent, Ed Welter, Ron Wojan, Jon and Sally Fogg, Ken Vos, Bill Hirschey, the Gericks, Mike Weede, Judy Boyle, Patrick McGinnity, and the boat Cisco. A judges’ panel awarded first place, and a wooden plaque, to Mike Weede’s Resolute; second to Jon and Sally Fogg; and a tie for third between the Welters and the Wojans. Entry fees, the report notes, go toward funding the following year’s fireworks.
The August 2009 issue also reports the outcome of the July 3 golf tournament: “after six years of trying, Team Houseman finally claimed the winners’ spot,” posting a six-under-par 29 described as a record-low winning score. The team was Tom, Tim, and Lisa Houseman with John Rademacher; two other teams carded 31.
Evidence and limits
The held issues document the planned schedule, the day’s events as they actually ran, the boat-parade results, and the golf tournament’s outcome in detail. No held account names a winner of the “Our Beaver Island Favorite” theme category, gives a complete parade-entry list beyond the recap’s selective narrative description, or states attendance figures or whether fireworks specifically occurred that evening as scheduled.
Open questions
- What or who was voted “Our Beaver Island Favorite” in the 2009 parade?
- Who wrote the untitled “The 4th” recap article?
See also
Sources
- The Beaver Beacon, July 2009, "Island Calendar of Events."Lists "July 3 - Fourth of July Golf Tournament" and "July 4 - the parade, the carnival, and enter your boat in the Clyde Fogg Memorial Boat Parade...enjoy fireworks over the harbor that evening. This year's July 4th parade theme will be 'Our Beaver Island Favorite' (person, place, thing, time...)." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-07_Beaver-Beacon
- The held fifty-two-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 · 2009-07_Beaver-Beacon
- The Beaver Beacon, July 2009, "4th of July Carnival."Lists planned Carnival attractions "Immediately following the parade": Balloon/Darts, Bottle Toss, Duck Pond, Sucker Tree, Bucket Bonanza, Treasure Chest, Putt for Prize, Face Painting, Bounce House, a Dunk Tank ("Celebrities...to be announced"), and concessions. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-07_Beaver-Beacon
- The held fifty-two-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 · 2009-07_Beaver-Beacon
- The Beaver Beacon, July 2009, Clyde Fogg Memorial Boat Parade advertisement.Advertisement text: "Fifth Annual Clyde Fogg Memorial Fourth of July Lighted Boat Parade," with Mike Weede of Paradise Bay Dive Shop as contact, establishing 2005 as the boat parade's first year (2009 being its fifth). No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-07_Beaver-Beacon
- The held fifty-two-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 · 2009-07_Beaver-Beacon
- The Beaver Beacon, August 2009, "Not in our House(man)."Reports that "after six years of trying, Team Houseman finally claimed the winners' spot in the annual Fourth of July tournament," posting a six-under-par 29; the team was Tom, Tim, and Lisa Houseman with John Rademacher, and two other teams carded 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 · 2009-08_Beaver-Beacon
- The held fifty-two-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 · 2009-08_Beaver-Beacon
- The Beaver Beacon, August 2009, untitled parade recap ("The 4th"), p. 40.An untitled recap article headed "The 4th" confirms the parade took place: a cannon signaled the start, followed by an Island Airways flyover with a "Missing Man" enactment on the second pass. It describes dozens of named entries in narrative form — the sheriff, AmVets, Fire Department, EMS/BIRHC raffle car, the Music Fest, the Cady Clan, a "Cole's Cabin" lodge float, Kevin Barry on his tractor, a commercial-fishing entry, Paradise Bay Coffee Shop, a CMU butterfly float with a live snake, the winners of the High Island Toboggan Slide challenge riding along, McDonough's candy-throwing flatbed, Jon Bonadeo's GTO convertible, the Emerald Isle Gallery's "Big George and the kids," Mike Martin's restored Model A, an "Ambassador from Hog Island," the Turners' truck, Adam Anderson's Beaver Island Marina wrecker, Gillespie Enterprises' truck, the Evans double-decker carrying thirty riders, a "Land's Favorite BIOLOGISTS" float sign, and an "Everything in its Place" mock wedding. No byline is given, and it does not name a winner of the "Our Beaver Island Favorite" theme category. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-08_Beaver-Beacon
- The held fifty-two-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 · 2009-08_Beaver-Beacon
- Beaver Beacon, August 2009, "The Boat Parade," by Lisa Gillespie.Reports the Fifth Annual Clyde Fogg Memorial Boat Parade results, crediting organizers Mike Weede and Ron Wojan. Names competitors Ann Weber, Pat Nugent, Ed Welter, Ron Wojan, Jon and Sally Fogg, Ken Vos, Bill Hirschey, the Gericks, Mike Weede, Judy Boyle, Patrick McGinnity, and the boat Cisco. First place (a wooden plaque) went to Mike Weede's Resolute; second to Jon and Sally Fogg; third was a tie between the Welters and the Wojans. States that entry fees fund the following year's fireworks. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2009-08_Beaver-Beacon
- The held fifty-two-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 · 2009-08_Beaver-Beacon
- A participant described a large crowd, parade, boat show, fireworks, and an AmVets van accompanying the Marines. Replies became a veteran-related argument, so this source is used only for the participant's contemporaneous observation of the celebration, not as an attendance count or neutral program report.forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 01 · t001763
Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island holds its 2009 Fourth of July, "Our Beaver Island Favorite"”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-fourth-of-july-2009/, accessed [date], citing The Beaver Beacon, July 2009, "Island Calendar of Events." (and 8 further sources listed on the page).
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