Fun Days will have to wait another year
OCONTO - For the 2020 Oconto Fun Days parade, the Valedictorians from past classes of Oconto High School were slated to be the Grand Marshall. Now those top grader-earners will have to wait for another year. Like many things this year, Oconto Fun Days, scheduled for the weekend of July 11, has been canceled due to social restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sandy Eggleston of Eggleston Oil, one of the organizers, has a list of Grand Marshalls and parade themes dating back to 1983.
What was the theme for this year going to be? No decision had been made when it was decided to cancel. “We didn’t even get that far,” Eggleston said.
The first recorded parade theme was “Childhood Memories” for 1983. Themes have ran the gamut, from TV and movies to cartoon characters and heroes and have included country living and history. “Riding Out the Storm” was the 2001 theme, a nod to the October, 2000 tornado that destroyed the old community hall and town library and took off the doors of the fire station.
Over the years, Fun Days have featured a parade, games, car show, dunk tank, free hamburger meal and alumni activities.
There have been a variety of games including sand volleyball, Jello golf, miniature golf, shaving cream golf, egg tosses, sack races, three legged-races, balloon tosses, turtle races, and ping-pong ball drops. Volleyball is no longer played however, most of the races are still held. The scavenger hunt has withstood the test of time, too. “The thing that has really stuck is the scavenger hunt,” Eggleston said. “It takes a lot of work by a lot of different people.”
For years, buttons have been made to illustrate the theme. Eggleston has a button from almost every year. Early buttons may feature only words or a few words and simple graphic.
“They started out simple and got more complicated,” she said. For the past few years, Clint Eggleston of Litchfield has designed buttons and t-shirts. An especially memorable year, 2015, had the theme, “The Legend Continues.” It was illustrated by an orange and black tiger on a blue background, paying tribute to the blue and white colors of the Oconto Tigers.
Years ago, the Oconto Lionesses organized the parade. It’s now a community event as there is no longer an Oconto Lions Club. The parade, which began as a children’s parade, grew and the lineup was moved to the school football field. As time passed, it became more difficult to find judges so the decision was made to do away with judging the parade entries, a decision which in no way affected the outcome of the parade. Floats, bands and riders still line up and children gather candy tossed from the floats.
At a normal Oconto Fun Days, as soon as the parade wraps up, people head to the Community Center and line up, dozens deep, for the free hamburger meal. The first Fun Day dinner was made at the Blue Jean Cafe. Later, all the grills in town were gathered to grill hamburgers.
These days Jared Eggleston, Derek Eggleston, Brett Eggleston, Brent Dittmar and Mac McLaughlin use Greg Johnson’s big grill to cook hundreds of patties. Additional volunteers wrap the hamburgers and serve the food and helping hands are always welcome. “There is a committee of helpers,” Eggleston said. “Anybody who wants to help can.”
In the first years, the meal was served in the old community hall and people sat at tables around and under the water tower. After the old community hall was destroyed, the meal was moved to the school. In 2003, the meal was moved to the newly built community center.
The population of
Oconto more than doubles the weekend of Fun Days. When asked how many hamburgers are cooked, Eggleston said, “Maybe 300, or probably closer to 400. ” She said purchasing 500 hamburger patties is about right. “We cook for the alumni dinner, too.”
Eggleston said people are disappointed that there will be no Fun Days this year. “The alumni are probably the most disappointed,” she said. “I hope we can do it next year.”
As a business owner herself (Eggleston and her husband Dan run the family business, Eggleston Oil, in Oconto), she is well aware of the impact that not having an event can have on other businesses. The purchases of hundreds of hamburger patties, buns, bags of chips and other items will not be made this year. This is the second community event that Oconto has canceled this summer. The June 6 Blowin’ the Doors Off BBQ was also canceled.
Eggleston says community members are already looking foward to the Methodist Church Thanksgiving dinner. Will they be able to hold that, as well as the Oconto Community Christmas celebration in early December? “We’re hoping so,” Eggleston said.