SL has Centennial year parade

From a distance, the gray-haired men and women looked like they had the bodies of 20-something beach babes.

As they marched closer in the Spirit Lake Fourth of July parade it was clear the muscular and suntanned bods were only painted on their T-shirts.

The sign gave it away, too: Spirit Lake High graduates from the 1950s and ‘60s.

“We just wanted to look like we did when we spent all our time at the lake as kids,” said Mike (McDonough) Lebo, a graduate of Spirit Lake High’s Class of 1960 “We were hot.”

Lebo and others who graduated from the old brick school, which graduated its last class in 1961, returned to their hometown for the town’s annual parade.

This year’s event was special: Spirit Lake is celebrating its 100th birthday.

Parade organizer Joy Porter said it was suggested parade entrants keep with the Centennial theme.

Many did.

Women and children from Spirit Lake’s First Lutheran Church wore handmade prairie dresses and bonnets. Pastor John Halverson “baptized” one young girl as the church’s float made its way through town.

The church is nearly as old as the town. The first service was held in 1909.

“Next year we will have our 100th,” Halverson said. “That’s a landmark for a church to last that long.”

Jo’s Hole Saloon entered a lively float depicting a wilder time in Spirit Lake’s history.

Gamblers sat around a table atop the bar’s float while women of ill repute smoked cigars and waved to crowds lining the streets of the small town.

Some parade entries were themed around the Independence Day holiday.

Six-year-old Tyler Johnson of Rathdrum and his 7-year-old sister, Savannah, dressed as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty.

“This is their first time,” said their grandmother, Sandra Hancox of Spirit Lake. She made Savannah’s costume herself.

“We thought we’d be fun and patriotic,” Hancox said.

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