Residents turn out for Ferrysburg Fourth of July events

Sat, Jul 5, 2008    to del.icio.us

FERRYSBURG — Hundreds of people took advantage of great summer weather to participate in Fourth of July events Friday in Ferrysburg.

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"Each year the parade gets bigger and more people come to see it," said Janet Joiner, chairman of Ferrysburg's Beautification Commission, which coordinated the day's events. "It's getting to be a community event that we're really proud of."

"And we were really honored to have Russ Flahive as our parade marshall," she said. The Ferrysburg resident serves in the U.S. Army as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and has been in Iraq.

The day started with the Mayor's Breakfast — a free community event — at the former Ferrysburg Elementary School. Mayor Jeff Stille wanted to continue the event, which was organized last year for Ferrysburg's 150th birthday, Joiner said.

Outside the school, City Manager Craig Bessinger was busy lining up the parade entries. There were more entries in the parade this year and more people called City Hall to ask about the parade, he said.

Martha Kropf, her daughter Elizabeth Sparks, granddaughter Page Sparks, 2, and friend Carol Prince, all of San Francisco, said they were enjoying the small-town parade, which was part of the experience of staying at their Ferrysburg cottage.

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"We've been coming here for 30 years," said Kropf, whose husband is a former Michigan resident. "There's no other connection than that we like it here."

Shawn Pfromm of Spring Lake and his son, Garrett, said they were also enjoying the parade. They've been coming every year since the parade started a few years ago.

Hundreds of people followed the parade to William Ferry Park, where a community picnic and children's games were provided by local merchants.

"Leppinks supplied 300 hot dogs and we ran out of hot dogs," Bessinger said. "We went and got 300 more and ran out of those as well."

Bessinger said the Beautification Commission worked hard on keeping events as festive as the previous year.

"They did a tremendous job," he said.

On the Net:

See video at www.grandhaventribune.com

See more Ferrysburg Fourth of July photos at squink.com