Patriotic finish to Harvest Days

Large contingent of area veterans lead annual Harvest Days Parade

Area veterans groups had a strong showing at the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce’s Harvest Days parade Sunday afternoon in downtown Medford.

As in the past, area veterans provided a color guard to lead the parade. Representatives from 10 different veterans organizations led the parade along with parade Grand Marshall John McMurry a Medford centenarian and World War II veteran. He was riding a Ford Bronco provided by Medford Motors. Also recognized was fellow WWII veteran Don Smith.

Veterans groups that were part of the procession included the Medford American Legion Post, Medford VFW and Auxiliary, Stetsonville American Legion, Rib Lake American Legion, Lublin American Legion, Stetsonville DAV, Wausau DAV, Phillips American Legion, and the Taylor County Veterans Services office.

In addition to the large number of veterans walking in the parade, they had vehicles including the Medford VFW Jeep and two trucks with trailers. Organizers estimated between 20 and 30 veterans walking leading the parade.

Parade organizers with the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce reported that they had more than 60 units, noting that it is common to see additional units on election years. The Harvest Days parade is one of the last parades in the region for the busy election season.

The parade route went from Wisconsin Ave. from Broadway Ave. (Hwy 64) south to Perkins Street, east on Perkins Street to Main St. and north on Main St. to the Frances L. Simek Memorial Library, which was a change back to its traditional route.

As in recent years, there was a sensory friendly zone by the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce and a special elderly zone across from Abiding Care Pregnancy Resource Center for people to park and stay in their car while viewing the parade.

The Harvest Days parade, followed by city of Medford trick-or-treating was the finale of a weekend-long community festival that included events for people of all ages.

The fun started on Friday night with a few hundred costumed characters visiting area businesses as part of the adult trick or treating event before heading to Marilyn’s Fire Station to dance and party along with the music of Home Grown Tomatoes.

On Saturday’s family day activities, events started with judging in the chili cookoff. A panel of local judges selected from the entries with Patti Jo Lamberty winning first place, Vanessa Hillebrand taking second place, and Samantha Brandner taking third place.

After sampling the chili entries, the judges satisfied their sweet tooth judging the dessert bake-off entries. Entrants were judged on a number of criteria including appearance, flavor and texture.

Kim Thomas took first place with an Amaretto Chocolate Cake dessert. Amber Epperly took home second place honors with her entry “Autumn Love.” Amanda Weiland took home third place with an Apple/Pear Cobbler Cheesecake.

There were events at Huey’s Hideaway and activities at the Frances L. Simek Memorial Library with a standing-room-only audience for the comedy clown duo of Miller and Mike.

This was followed by the ever-popular candy drop held on the library lawn with the help of the Medford Area Fire Department. Several large totes of candy were dropped onto the yard for each of the five age groups. Youth scurried out to collect the candy making quick work of the pile with some lucky children winning bigger prizes in addition to the sweet treats.

The fun continued at Broadway Theatre with a free family movie of “Ghostbusters Afterlife” and a large crowd of movie-goers.

Things got spooky on Saturday night with the spooky path. Organizers estimated about 1,000 people went through the path which was decorated and staffed by area volunteers with the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and community groups. City Coordinator Joe Harris was on hand at the end of the trail handing out candy to all the participants.

Unfortunately, the community fun was marred by some mischief-minded individuals who took advantage of a community event to attempt to line their own pockets.

According to organizers with the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce, they had people not affiliated with the event position themselves in a blindspot to organizers between 8 and 9 p.m. and stopped participating cars to ask them for a “donation “ for the Spooky Path.

“As many of you know, we work hard to provide a weekend free of charge for all of Taylor County. The money that you gave these individuals was not for the Spooky Path. They were collecting it for themselves,” said Bille Hartwig of the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce.

The police were informed and the incident is under investigation. Organizers are asking for people who have pictures of the Spooky Path to check the backgrounds of those pictures for the individuals and contact the Medford Police Department or Chamber of Commerce to try and get these people brought to justice.

Even with the setback on Saturday night, organizers persevered with putting on fun activities for the community on Sunday morning with more than a dozen people taking part in the BOOzey BOOgie Pub Crawl between Marilyn’s Fire Station, the Grey Dog Axe Throwing, Medford Curling Club, Old School Saloon and Uncommon Ground.

Area residents and visitors also had the opportunity to check out food options with the Food Alley held at The Grey Dog and at Marilyn’s featuring food served by area restaurants and food trucks.