Colorful Charlo parade on target
Linda Sappington
Stuart Morton of Stuart’s Napa created a Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter float that sprays water from the torpedo launchers.
Linda Sappington
Paige Miller tosses candy from a classic car.
Linda Sappington
The Charlo 14U softball team doused parade growers with water on the warm day.
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
Linda Sappington
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The Force awakened the crowd gathered along Highway 212 July 4 as an X-Wing Starfighter sprayed water and bellowed out the Star Wars theme song from built-in speakers.
Stuart Morton of Stuart’s Napa created the selfpropelled float, which took first place in the adult category.
“I found a picture, and thought, ‘we could do this,’ he said. “Then I saw my lawnmower and thought, ‘we could do it with this!’”
The nose was fashioned from the windshield of a 1974 snow machine. Jet engines were built from concrete forms and mounted with speakers. Water squirted from four torpedo launchers, and firework fountains mounted on the back of the launchers stayed unlit — for now.
Morton plans to ignite the fireworks during the Good Old Days parade on July 23 in St. Ignatius and the Pioneer Days Parade in Ronan on Aug. 7.
“It’s a good enough float that it needs to be in all places,” Morton said. He hopes his grandson will visit and wear a Darth Vader costume in the upcoming parades.
The Mission Valley Garden Club float was filled with colorful characters and a plethora of red, white and blue decorations, earning second place.
The third-place float went to the parade’s Honored Citizens, the Sassy Scrappy Stitchers, a group of women who sew and knit on Mondays at the Charlo Senior Center. Each January the ladies create quilts and lap throws to donate to places such as Camp Mak-a-Dream, women’s and children’s shelters, oncology departments and the Montana Highway Patrol. The ladies have also donated handmade hats, mittens and quilts to students at Charlo High School. When asked how long the women have been stitching together, they replied, “too long to remember.”
The winner of the kids’ entry was the Charlo champion 14U girls’ softball team, who kept the crowd cool with streams of water propelled from squirt guns, followed by Seth and Kaid Sinclair riding mini horses in second place and Mini Miss Good Old Days Alessia Bravo, riding in a pool of water, earning third place.
Parade organizers stopped the progression briefly to salute men and women in who have served or currently serve in the armed forces.
At least 23 entries paraded down Highway 212, stopping traffic on the round-trip course in a show of Americana themed, “What Does Our Red, White and Blue Mean to You?” For Ashley Mock, that meant painting her white horse in the stars and stripes of the American Flag. Connor Fryberger led the caravan of entries, displaying Old Glory on her dad’s horse, Traveler. Flanking her on horseback were Morgan Shepard carrying the Charlo Viking flag and Skylar Frame, Miss South East Montana Rodeo, parading the Montana Flag. The annual event is special because of its “community, friendship and family atmosphere,” parade coordinator LaDonna Fryberger said.
