Come to Millwood Days, enjoy the parade

Just in case you were wondering, the annual Millwood Days parade is far from the world’s shortest.

Not that there are a lot of records available on the subject.

Millwood Days, which celebrates its 13th anniversary this year, features a parade that winds through the streets around Millwood Town Hall, culminating at Millwood Town Park for a carnival sponsored by West Valley SCOPE.

The parade route, added up, is less than 10 blocks long. Which makes it about eight blocks longer than the annual Fourth of July Parade in Aptos, Calif. That parade, which takes place in a small community six miles north of Santa Cruz, covers all of two blocks and features every resident of the community – including the four-legged kind.

“When we first came up with this idea, we got a lot of flak from people about the parade,” said June King, West Valley SCOPE president. “But we decided that, if they could have a parade in Athol, Idaho and in Bayview, Idaho, that we could have a parade in Millwood.”

King and her husband, the late Tom King, both founding members of West Valley SCOPE, helped pull together the first parade and carnival in about six weeks.

“Now it takes us six months,” King laughed.

In years past, the parade has featured floats from area communities, marching bands and units with a decidedly local flavor, and a strong representation from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, which sponsors the Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort program.

“It’s usually a matter of timing to get the floats here,” King said. “We’re hoping to get a few here this year.”

The annual carnival is the prime fundraiser for the organization, housed underneath Millwood Town Hall.

“We’re really pretty lucky,” King said. “Most SCOPE offices have to do spaghetti feeds and other fundraisers throughout the year. We just have this one and we’re all set.”

The carnival will again feature a raffle filled with a long list of items, with a handful youth bicycles headlining the day.

“We have six bicycles to raffle off again,” King said. “And the kids must be present in order to win. The parade starts at 11 a.m. and we’ll raffle off the bikes at 3 p.m.”

There will be music, games and food throughout the day in the park, as well as fun and informational booths.

“We have all kinds of good stuff planned,” King said. “It’s always a lot of fun – especially when we get a good day.”