The Leland Fourth of July parade is set to be held on Wednesday, July 4 at 3 p.m. once again, with much of the organizing in part thanks to a committee that works together to coordinate the celebratory event every year.
Leland Chamber of Commerce President Mark Morton said while the parade is an event people very much look forward to, they also love the fireworks show that happens at dusk the day before on July 3. Although the chamber originally had doubts about it happening due to the annual Leland Food and Wine Festival being canceled earlier this year, an event which garners most of their monies to pay for the fireworks, the group still managed to collect enough donations from the community to make it a reality.
“We do ours (fireworks) on July 3 so we don’t compete with Northport,” Morton said, adding that the show lasts about 20-25 minutes in duration. “For as long as I’ve known it, we’ve always done the Leland fireworks on a different night. It starts at dusk. We’ve gone with a new fireworks company this year, Wolverine Fireworks Display, which is the same one Northport uses.”
In the Leland Fourth of July committee, members wear many hats and people often collaborate on several projects to make events in town a success. This year, Lauren Cypher has taken on the role of committee chair and has been managing much of the logistics and paperwork for parade entries that former committee member Ashley Suttmann handled. Cypher, Morton, Kim Murray, and Barb Burkhardt all make up the parade planning committee.
“We started having meetings several months ago and she (Cypher) has just taken on everything,” Morton added. “She’s just been amazing at how she’s taken on all the responsibilities and ran with it.”
Leland Lodge owner Annie Lutz is the parade grand marshal this year, with the king and queen named as Dan and Laurie Lisuk. The two emcees are Bob Schlueter and Tom Bischoff. As of last week, there were about 30 parade entries signed up and registered.
Cypher said this is her first year on the planning committee, adding that she has a deep background in events which makes doing the paperwork and lineup for the parade not as diffi cult.
“It’s been going really smoothly, most of the participants have done this before, and everybody is just excited for the holiday and are ready to have a good time,” Cypher said. “We will do the lineup this weekend and then we’ll be ready to go… I think last year we were in the 50 something (participants), so we still have plenty of time and plenty of room (for people in the parade). We’re well on our way.”
And while this is Cypher’s first year working on the committee, she has been to the parade with her kids and enjoyed the festivities many times before. She and her kids have enjoyed activities like going to the Old Art Building and decorating their bikes in the morning before the parade, and then going to the event later in the afternoon decked out for Fourth of July celebrations.
“They use streamers and balloons and then you can ride your bike in the floats or hop on with another organization,” she said. “Like my son when he was in sailing school, he hopped on the yacht club float, so there’s just lots of room for kids especially to participate… The businesses in town, everyone turns out and contributes in any way that they can to make it a great event.”
Parade committee members like Cypher work with local agencies with the township for permitting and the sheriff’s office for extra support and diversion of traffic. Cypher said they also try to honor several members of the community by highlighting them in their parade court (king, queen, grand marshal, etc.) and with awards.
“So there is some coordination logistically and then it’s a handful of volunteers on the morning of… We have a local singer singing the national anthem and we have some awards and judges that are local to Leland who will be looking at people in the parade,” she said. “We have some really creative folks that bring really interesting floats like a mobile pickleball court. The categories this year are: most unique, most humorous, best antique auto, best costume for children and best costume for adults, and then best in parade.”
There’s always a great turnout for the parade because the whole event is family friendly, Cypher said. The Leland families that have either been involved with their children or even as business owners or volunteers year after year continue to add to the success and joy of the event, too.
“There’s homes where families are grilling and barbecuing and kids just lining the streets,” she said. “I would say the old art building to the Merc is kind of that hub, but all the way from the south end of Leland to the north end is just packed with people.”
“It’s so quintessential (the parade), small town and grassroots,” Morton said. “It’s not really polished or has big bands or anything. It’s just the community coming together for a parade, and that’s really what makes it special.”
