Warroad has big weekend planned

Parade, fishing derby, carnival top list of activities

In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.

June 27, 1995

By Devlyn Brooks

"The Warroad celebration has been known as the place to go on the Fourth of July for years," said Mike Kvarnlov of the Warroad Chamber of Commerce. "This is the biggest and best Fourth promotion that we have had yet."

A carnival will run all day, each day, from July 1 to July 4, and Kvarnlov said that he urges everyone to take advantage of the advance ticket sales for the carnival rides. Advanced tickets are $1, and tickets at the carnival will be $1.25.

Also on Saturday, July 1, there will be bingo sponsored by the Lake of the Woods Casino starting at 7:15 p.m. At 8 p.m., Warroad Summer Theatre will present "Anne of Green Gables" in the high school mini-theater.

"Warroad Summer Theatre has always been a part of the Fourth celebration," Kvarnlov said. "They are always terrific presentations."

Also starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, there will be a street dance starring the band "RipChord." The band plays a wide variety of music from '50s to '90s, Kvarnlov said. There will be beer and brats available.

"The band is good," he said. "They have a large local following." All that is needed to get into the dance is a Fourth of July Chamber of Commerce button.

"Saturday will be a big night to kick everything off," Kvarnlov said.

On Sunday, July 2, the carnival will run all day. From 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., there will be a pancake breakfast served at the Warroad Community Center. There is a new event during the Fourth celebration Kvarnlov said.

The big event on Sunday is the "Catch, Spin & Win" fishing derby, Kvarnlov said. "Warroad has never really cashed in on Lake of the Woods," he said, "so we figured we would try and use the lake this year." This is how the idea for the fishing derby originated.

The contest runs from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The rules are that any fish can win the contest. It is not a biggest fish or largest number of fish contest. Each contestant can enter one fish which entitles them to three spins on the wheel. The first spin will designate how many pounds. The second spin will designated the tenths of a pound, and the third spin will designate the hundredths of pound. The largest spin will be the winner, the next largest spin will be second place and so on. The grand prize is $2,000 and the contest is limited to 200 entries.

"People better get entered fast because the spots will go in a hurry," Kvarnlov said of the contest.

WST will present another performance of "Anne of Green Gables," and there will also be another session of bingo sponsored by Lake of the Woods Casino.

On Monday, July 3, the theme for the day will be "Kids Day," Mayor Bob Marvin said. "The Kids Day is a totally new concept," he said. From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. kids will receive a discount on rides at the carnival, which will run all day once again. The kids can receive free ice cream from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. down by the beach. This is sponsored by the Roseau County Dairy Association. The 1995 Roseau County Dairy Princess will be on hand. There will also be discounts on miniature golf at Putt 4 Par. Kids six to 12 can play for $1.50, and kids five and under can play for free.

Monday night, Lake of the Woods Casino will sponsor Megabingo at 7 p.m.

To cap the night off, the Alumni Banquet will begin at 7 p.m. also. "The Alumni Banquet has always been a big deal every year," Kvarnlov said.

The carnival will run all day for one final day on Tuesday, July 4. There also will be softball tournaments that will run all day long. Face painting for children will be available from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

To start the day off, the annual parade will begin at 10 a.m. "If you have never seen the parade, you'll be surprised at such a big parade for a little town," Kvarnlov said.

"The parade will take its traditional route," Marvin said.

At 12:30 p.m. by the beach there will be kiddie races, and at 1:30 p.m. on the beach there will be a sand castle building contest.

By the swimming pool at 2 p.m. there will be a model airplane demonstration. Following at 2:30 p.m. there will be a model car demonstration.

At 3 p.m. Gretchen Mehmel will lead a nature walk, which will begin at the shelter by the swimming pool.

There will be a square dancing demonstration by the shelter area at 4 p.m. Kvarnlov said to bring a lawn chair adn come early because a lot of people watch the square dancing.

From 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., there will be bingo at the shelter that is sponsored by the Warroad Chamber of Commerce. Kvarnlov said that there is usually so many people who want to play that they have to take turns.

At 7 p.m., the five $100 cash drawings will take place by the beach.

An air show will begin at 8 p.m. and can be viewed from the beach.

"Just sit back and relax," Kvarnlov said because after the airshow the fireworks will begin about 10 p.m.

"This is probably the largest display of fireworks in northern Minnesota," Marvin said.