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Car Show draws crowd in Tapiola

Paul Peterson/For the Gazette Rob Olson, right, of the Tapiola Fourth of July Committee points out a feature on his restored 1946 Ford Coupe to a spectator at Saturday's Antique Car Show. The event capped off four days of holiday events in Tapiola.

TAPIOLA — In just three short years, Fourth of July festivities in this small Houghton County town have gone from zero to a busy holiday event.

“For years and years, they didn’t have anything going on here on the Fourth,” said Rob Olson, chairman of festivities, Saturday. “But the parade we started in 2016 was such a success, we decided to add on events.”

An antique car show on Saturday was one of those new events and drew some 40 entrants.

“We are very pleased with this weekend,” Olson commented. “It was a wonderful day and the weather was great. We expect it to grow.”

When John A. Doelle School closed its doors 50 years ago, it took away much of the identity of the town and surrounding areas.

But when Olson, who was away downstate for nearly 38 years, moved back to Tapiola with his wife, Jan, they decided to try to get things going again.

“I’m a 1964 graduate of Doelle and Jan is from the 1965 class, so we had an interest,” he said. “It was kind of tough to see the old school building sitting there unused. With the help of a lot of people, it’s kind of taken off.”

Leland Jurva, a 1967 Doelle graduate, gave Olson a lot of credit for the town’s revival.

“Rob has really worked hard on the parade, but also in a lot of social events sponsored by the Doelle Senior Citizens Club,” Jurva noted.

Art Saarela, a visitor from Rochester, in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, praised the work of the local people.

“They’ve got a parade that is close to any in the area and now they’ve added other things,” said Saarela, a 1964 Doelle grad. “Kudos go out to them.”

This year’s schedule included a parade on Wednesday, a strawberry social and class reunion on Friday and the antique car event on Saturday.

“The way we’ve looked at it is that other small towns have done similar things …. why not here?” Olson said.

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