Festival Days Parade brings thousands

The Havre Festival Days parade brought flocks of people to 5th Avenue Saturday.

Many organizations, businesses and individuals took part in the parade. Bullhook Blossom Club, Northern Montana Hospital, North Star Dance had just a few of the the floats in the parade.

"Festival Days was originally an event that showcased the bands from Montana," said David Johnke, the band director at Havre High School. "After the parade, all these bands would appear in different parts in the city and have competitions."

Now, only a few like the Havre High School band makes it to Festival Days, but the parade is just as well attended.

Northern Montana Hospital made its float to celebrate this year's theme, which is "Loving Our Treasures." The float hospital staff created was comprised of storks, to celebrate the children they deliver. Each stork was created with a persona, with a name card to follow suit.

South Alberta Pipes and Drums visited the parade as they have since the creation of the event.

The sounds of bagpipes lasted for the whole day, as they walked in the parade and visited the local bars that night.

Prize winners were:

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon chose the hospital as the winner of the Mayor's Choice award for best float.

Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods won the best commercial portion of the competition.

Havre Public Schools Foundation won the best noncommercial section of the contest.

Large crowds lined both sides of 5th Avenue, and the most popular floats for the children were those that tossed candy to the observers.

The parade capped a weekend full of events that included a gun show, a fun walk/run, "Death by Chocolate," arts and crafts show and a large display of quilts.

As in past years, Festival Days turned out to be the biggest event of the year, bringing out people from throughout the Hi-Line. It was also the weekend that many ex-Havreites returned home for the weekend.

(See a picture page of Festival Days events on Page A8.)