To the editor:

On July 4 Tapiola had its first-ever parade which was a resounding success, well attended and appreciated. It would not have taken place without the efforts of many volunteers in our community. Thanks to Rob Olson for introducing the idea, and to the faithful committee that formed from members of the community.

We want to thank all those associated in any way with the parade: the planning committee for making it happen, the 4 businesses in our area (The Feed Mill Cafe, Karvakko’s Market, American Welding and Gas, and Kurt’s Korner) for donating flags, John VanWestenburg for the banner donation, the Otter Lake Fire Dept. for traffic control and overall help, Sheriff Brian McLean for sending a car and deputy to lead the parade, our local State Police Officer, Ed Zawada, for a fitting close to the parade, Portage Township for providing the trash barrels.

Thank you to Ron Olson for use of his property and other neighbors for allowing parking on their property, the board and members of the Doelle Senior Citizens for opening the center, providing refreshments, and volunteering in any way, the kitchen workers who served the public and cleaned up, the cooks who grilled the hot dogs, the Karvakko family for donating extra hot dogs and buns, those who baked and donated cookies. Thank you to others who assisted with traffic control, Mitch Lake and Jan Tucker of WMPL for air time advertising, TV6 for news coverage, Paul Peterson for submitting the front-page photo to the Daily Mining Gazette.

Thank you to all those who participated in the parade procession, Marilyn Hamar for use of her convertible for the grand marshalls, the Noisy Neighbors and Otter River Ramblers for their post-parade music, those who preserved the memories through their photos.

Thanks also to anyone we may have inadvertently omitted, and all the happy spectators for coming!

Diane Jurva

Pelkie