Broadus Celebrates "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" on July 4th

The 4th of July holiday in Broadus greeted those looking to celebrate America's birthday with typical early July conditions – a nice morning led to warm conditions and a high of 94, followed by a typical summer thundershower coming through in the evening to cool things down, dropping .08" of rain.

The day started out bright and early with the 5 mile Freedom Run, won by Taylor Rumph, with the 1 mile run/walk to follow. Full details on those events may be found on page 4.

The parade had a sizable turnout of participants and attendees lining the streets – perhaps not as many as the 100 year county celebration last year, but sizeable nonetheless. Red, white, and blue took many forms along the parade route, whether in flags waved by precocious tots, or in flag themed muscle shirts worn by older adults.

The theme of this year's parade was "Celebrating Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Many attendees chose to exercise the "liberty" portion of the parade's theme, with mask use nearly non-existent. Some parade viewers were seen watching the event from their cars to help mitigate the risk of the airborne contagion, while others watched the parade from sites along the route that allowed them to maintain social distancing.

Randy Sullivan, Powder River County's first Public Health Nurse, was honored for her years of service to the community as the Parade's Grand Marshal. Randy happily waved to the crowd from Wayne Talcott's 2003 Ford Thunderbird convertible as she passed the adoring throng which she had helped keep healthy throughout the years.

Tom Herzog did a fine job MC'ing the event, stopping a few floats along the way to speak with the participants.

The color guard of VFW members featured Marty Drane carrying the Stars and Stripes, with Matt Zellers holding the blue field and seal of the great state of Montana. Accompanying the flag bearers were VFW members Mike & Megan Stephens, and Devin Boman.

Parade awards were given as follows: 1st Place VFW Post 1595 & Auxiliary float, which featured members of the VFW, the Auxiliary, and several young fellows who helped to throw out candy. 2nd place was the Montana Bar "Train", featuring Willie Gergen manning the "engine", pulling a train of wagons. 3rd place went to Curt Olson's towed Alaska fishing boat, which is headed to the cold waters of Bristol Bay for its maiden voyage later this summer. Honorable mentions went to Mangen Angus Ranch and their 1955 Chevy Panel Wagon, Lester Aye and his 1929 Allis Chalmers tractor, and to Bud Williams and grandson Landon. Landon rode his Great-Grandpa Raymond's horse "Snoopy" in the parade. Raymond is currently in the nursing home and doesn't get to see his horse very often, so Bud and Landon rode over to meet Raymond during the parade. Bud, mounted on his own steed, also led a Shetland pony, "Candy", who stopped for pets from a number of kids along the parade route.

Other participants in the parade included: the Rising Stars 4-H Club with Dan & Whitney Hartman horseback, and other club members carrying the Broadus Boot & Tack sign; the Broadus Volunteer Fire Department fire trucks driven by volunteers Chase Talcott, Casey Slovek and Ryan Woods; John Olson with his County Commissioner campaign float; Faith Bible Church; Silver Sage Clothing-Art & Karen Perleberg; Barbero Auto & Ag; BDJ Construction-Amber Hart driving a Kenworth Dump Truck; Craig Appleman driving a 1950 John Deere B, which his great grandad bought new and has been in the family since; Dale Copelan drove a 1937 John Deere B owned by his grandparents, with help from Ashton Worman; Brad Stoddard in Bert's restored Ford 9N tractor; Lisa Lynch and her goats with help from Brennan Burris; Clark Appleman driving a 1958 CJ5 Jeep; John Williams and his 1983 Japanese Mini; Dan Lynch driving his 1995 Jeep Wrangler; J&S Tire-Scott Cain & Mary Bordeaux on their 2019 Street Glide CVO and 2020 Heritage Classic motorcycles; Louise Talcott's 1970 Mercury Monterey; 1972 Chevy Chevelle SS Convertible owned by Bill & Kara Lambert; Clint Pedersen's restored red 1957 Dodge, the exact same model as Tow-mater in the movie Cars; Ted Amsden's 1972 K20 Chevy; 1976 El Camino owned by Dave Price; Robin Reames' 1992 Jaguar XJS V12; Ernie Stillman and his 1969 Chevelle; and an orange 1955 Allis Chalmers WD45 bought new by Earl Aye and driven by Leah Aye.

Following the parade, the annual co-ed softball tournament kicked off, hosted by the PR Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, and Powder River Little League. The "Dirt Baggers" team went undefeated in the round robin and single elimination tournament, which featured seven teams. The Dirt Baggers consisted of Brandon Schuetzle, Matt Zellers, Bob, Ricarda, Taylor & Tytan Hanson, Eric Desatoff, John Metcalfe, Grant Beagles, Monica Grimsrud, and Justin Smith.

A golf tournament also took place on the 4th; we do not yet have the results of that tournament.

In the early evening, a rousing Cornhole tournament took place downtown in front of the bars, consisting of three separate single elimination brackets, with 45 entries competing in the tournament. Winners included: 1st bracket – Kurt & Julie Collins, 2nd bracket – Dave Barbero & Ben Weber, and 3rd bracket – Lee Turnbough & Charley Lenning.

A street dance featuring the music of Way Out West filled the downtown area with sound later in the evening, along with a fireworks show from B-Hill at dark. The fireworks show was executed by Phil Desatoff and fire protection was handled by the Broadus Volunteer Fire Department. Later in the evening, numerous individuals set off their own fireworks, with most dying down by 11:30 or so, though at least one explosion was heard as late as 2:30 AM. The Powder River Sheriff's Office said no fireworks related incidents were reported over the weekend – everyone kept their fingers, and no fires were started, a great accomplishment on a dry year where an errant spark could start the world on fire.