Biggest Little 4th of July Parade

The Biggest Little 4th of July Parade!

Mikana, WI

CALLING ALL PATRIOTS!

If you enjoy our Cedar Lake Fireworks show and make it a annual family event, We need your help. If we are going to continue the Cedar Lake Fireworks we will be depending  on individual donations.  Please consider making an annual pledge to not only continue this patriotic display but make it even better in the future.

Send donations made out to “Cedar Lake Fireworks Fund”  and send to:

Town Clerk

2696 26-26 3/4 ave

Mikana, Wi. 54857

 

Better yet, click donation button below to make an instant donation.

Donate to the Fireworks Fund

JOIN US AS WE CELEBRATE OUR NATION’S INDEPENDENCE AND ROAD TO RECOVERY

Biggest Little Parade 2023!

For questions, email mikanaparade@gmail.com  or call 715-205-6548.

  • 9:00 am | 5K Run/Walk

    REGISTRATION: 7:45 – 8:45 AM 9:00 AM Start 

  • 1:00 pm | Parade

    REGISTRATION: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

  • 2:00 pm | Raffle

     

  • Dusk | Fireworks!

     

Since 1980, Mikana has celebrated our PATRIOTIC PRIDE by hosting The Biggest Little Parade. This fun event is a highlight for residents and visitors alike. As the event has grown, so has the Mikana Parade Raffle, with proceeds supporting the Cedar Lake area. Raffle money has been contributed to Birchwood Four Corners Emergency Services District, Birchwood Area Food Pantry, Pink Ribbon Advocacy, Educational Foundation of Birchwood, “Angel Fund” at Birchwood School, Birchwood Backpack Program, Timber Bay, Rice Lake Library Building Fund, as well as improvements to Mikana Town Hall and Joel Wosepka Park.

Parade History

“THE BIGGEST LITTLE PARADE IN THE WORLD” was started on July 4th, 1980. In April of 1980, The United States Hockey team defeated the Russian team in the Olympics and a small group of people, fired with patriotic pride, got together and marched through town waving flags….

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That summer was the year of gas shortages and people were requested not to travel on the Fourth of July. The idea was to have a parade and Fourth of July celebration right in Mikana. Local businesses were consulted and the enthusiasm spread. Jean Wolff came up with the name of the parade, saying, “If we are going to have a parade, let’s have the biggest little parade in the world.” She worked very hard on publicity, (even trying to get into the Guinness Book Of World Records).

In the next few years, Elsie Bartels invested her own money to have parade buttons made, and the rest of the group agonized over whether they could sell enough buttons to return her investment. They did. Now the buttons are a guaranteed seller. Many people have button collections that go all the way back to the beginning of the parade. There is now a collection of all the parade buttons displayed in the Cedar Lake Town Hall, created and donated by Howard and Emily Helfert.

Some of the highlights of the parade have been: Jean Wolff dressed as the Statue of Liberty, the Lombardo family as swamp monsters, and Bob Quillen’s outhouse. Joyce Jarzyna was our Drum Majorette for many years of the parade, leading “Joyce’s Jewels” a group of local ladies singing patriotic songs. Our youngest participant was Tom Plahn, pulled in a wagon dressed as a clown, and our oldest is George Dana of Sarona, who came for many years impressively dressed as Uncle Sam: looking as if he just stepped off a recruiting poster! We have also had Minutemen, a Chinese Dragon from Long Lake, and Cathy Hatfield as Lady Godiva. Yes, she was clothed!

Each year we honor a special person(s) as the Fourth of July Parade Marshall(s), recognizing their contributions to the community.

WE USED TO HAVE A QUEEN, LITTLE MISS, AND THEIR ATTENDANTS

Our Mikana Queen, Little Miss Mikana, and their attendants were another important part of the parade. We were very proud of our democratic way of choosing these young ladies: the names of the girls living in Cedar Lake Township were placed in a hat and drawn. The Queen and attendant had to be age 13 to 16, and the Little Miss and her attendant had to be age 5 to 9, by the Fourth of July. The first name picked in each category was asked to become Queen or Little Miss. The next name drawn was asked to be an attendant.

The Mikana Queen, Little Miss Mikana, and their attendants were installed in a ceremony on Saturday preceding the parade. To add some time to the program and insert local humor, a musical was created each year featuring Cedar Lakes most talented voices. Sara Wojciechowski created, wrote and directed the coronation play for the past fifteen years.

After the Coronation Lisa Howard and helpers would provide punch and homemade treats for all those attending.

UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO MODERN RESTRICTIONS, AND SO MANY MORE DEMANDS ON YOUNG PEOPLES TIME, THE PRACTICE OF THE QUEEN, LITTLE MISS, AND THE CORONATION PLAY ENDED IN 2011.

As the parade grew and the committee started to actually make money, it was decided that the money not needed for the support of the parade should be used to benefit the Town of Cedar Lake. Some of the things done with the money include wiring the Town Hall for a sound system, street banners with a goose logo proclaiming “Mikana: Headwaters of Red Cedar River”, and a historical marker in the park near the dam, explaining the history of Mikana. Christmas street decorations were purchased in conjunction with Barb’s General Store and monies were also used to refurbish the Mikana float, which was re-done a few years ago in a very patriotic theme: red, white, and blue, with American flags.

We have purchased tactical defense equipment (official wording for flack jacket) for our Police Officer (approximately $1,500), donated $500 to the Birchwood Community Education Project for their library program, bought new sound equipment for the day of the parade, and “Welcome to Mikana” signs which are erected at either end of town.

The Parade Committee also spent its monies on a new furnace and air conditioning for the Town Hall, paid for half the cost of new vertical blinds for the Cedar Lake Town Hall, and donates $1,000.00 every year to the fireworks. Money was also spent to re-decorate the “Home Town Spirit” float. In 2009, we purchased a $5,000 Stryker cot for the Birchwood Ambulance EMT’s

Parade Events

5K Walk/Run

July 4th, 2023

Registration: 7:45 – 8:45 am

Race Start: 9:00 am

The race starts and finishes at Cedar Lake Grill. No bikes, please.

Registration Deadline: Sunday, June 18, 2023 11:59 PM

Registration – Ages 13+

  • $25

Kid’s Race – Ages 6-12

  • $15 (with adult registration)

T-shirt ONLY

  • $20
Parade Raffle

Since 1980, Mikana has celebrated our PATRIOTIC PRIDE by hosting ​The Biggest Little Parade​. This fun event is a highlight for residents and visitors alike. As the event has grown, so has the Mikana Parade Raffle, with proceeds supporting the Cedar Lake area. Raffle money has been contributed to Birchwood Four Corners Emergency Services District, Birchwood Area Food Pantry, Pink Ribbon Advocacy, Educational Foundation of Birchwood, “Angel Fund” at Birchwood School, Birchwood Backpack Program, Timber Bay, Rice Lake Library Building Fund, as well as improvements to Mikana Town Hall and Joel Wosepka Park.

You can buy raffle tickets at many local businesses in the Mikana, Birchwood and Rice Lake area or from ticket sellers on the street prior to the drawing at 2pm.

Fireworks

Scheduled for dusk on the 4th of July at Joel Wosepka Park.

Parade Registration (Online Form) Parade Map 5K Walk/Run Registration (Online Form)

Would you like to help with this years Parade?

Contact Us

2023 BIGGEST LITTLE 4TH OF JULY PARADE MARSHALS

Please congratulate Ken and Becky George on being named Grand Marshals of the “Biggest Little 4th of July Parade”.

Ken moved to the farm, which he still resides on just north of Mikana, with his parents and four other siblings in April of 1962, when he was just 2 ½ years old. At that time, it was an operating dairy farm. In 1981, Ken took over the farm from his parents and continued to run it as a dairy farm until the fall of 2016, when he sold the dairy herd. Since that time, it has been turned into a crop farm and Ken works part time off the farm.

In the Summer of 1983, Ken and Becki where married and Becki joined him on the farm. They will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary on July 9th. In 1988, daughter Amy was born, and in 1992, daughter Sarah was born. Both have grown up, married and left the local area and have families of their own, including grandson, Leif and granddaughter, Nora.

Ken has been serving the Cedar Lake community since the fall of 1989, when Ken was asked to consider joining the Mikana substation of the Rice Lake Fire Department. At that time, the Rice Lake Fire Department served the Mikana area and most of the west side of Red Cedar Lake. Ken was a member of the Rice Lake Fire Department until the summer of 2006, when Cedar Lake township contracted with the Birchwood Fire Department to service the whole township. Since 2006 Ken has worked his way to becoming the Birchwood Four Corners Emergency Services District Fire Chief, a position he has held since 2017. His years of fire service to the community totals 34 years.

Some of Ken’s other service to the community, includes being elected to the Board of Directors of the former Rice Lake Farmers Union Co-op, now known as Synergy Co-op, from 1992-2007. In the summer of 2019, Ken was hired to be the part time, assistant patrolman by the Town of Cedar Lake; a position he currently holds.

In 2021, Becki retired from her 38 years of teaching. She started her career in the Spooner School District, then spent 28 of years in the Rice Lake District. In addition to helping on the farm in the summer, during her career teaching career she coached volleyball, and the Middle School and High School Forensics teams for over 25 years. In retirement, she is volunteering with the Birchwood Food Pantry, as a Reading Buddy in the Birchwood Schools, and recently became the President of the newly created BFCESD Auxiliary.