Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Tom DeCarlo of Ironwood, a World War II veteran and member of Marty’s Goldenaires, dances during the band’s performance at the end of the Labor Day parade in Ontonagon Sunday.

ONTONAGON — People and music filled the streets of Ontonagon as the village held its annual three-day Labor Day festival.

“The festival is all about community, and people, and after the last year and a half, people are just super-excited, spirits are high and everybody’s happy to be together again,” said co-chair Margo Anderson.

About four months of planning goes into the festival, which includes a golf tournament, vendors, parades, and a fireworks display Saturday night.

Anderson’s been co-chairing the festival with Tanya Wiesinger for the past four years. Her favorite part? The smiling faces.

“All the people getting together with people they haven’t seen all year long,” she said.

People lined up Sunday to watch the annual parade, filled with a mix of colorful trucks, bands and floats. Before the parade, several children from Merril, Wisconsin drew a tableau of animals, snowmobiles and more with chalk bought from a garage sale held earlier.

Maddie Zajackowski, 10, said her favorite float was “Yooper luau,” which combined Hawaiian shirts and hunting caps.

First prize went to the Norwich Country Club, which made a float saluting the military. Club president Jeff Rule said the club wanted to demonstrate appreciation for the country and its flag.

Many hours of work go into each year’s float, Rule said.

“We’ve got a good group of people that goes down after work, and retired people that go down during the day,” he said.

The club, which started in 1958, meets for a meal on the second Sunday of each month. It also does charitable projects in the community.

And they’re a frequent winner of the Labor Day Parade. Rule said the celebration is an important one for Ontonagon.

“It’s an uplifting thing in our community,” he said. “The area’s been economically depressed for a long time, and it’s always something that brings people together. It’s kind of a homecoming, too. A lot of people that moved come back and celebrate the weekend. So we always look forward and try to make it that much better by just putting a good float together.”