The Grand Marshals and theme has been announced for the 50th Annual Little Egypt Festival that will take place the first Saturday in October.
Parade Chair Troy Cannon says both will honor the festivals and city’s history.
“50 years of progress, it kind of fits not just where we are at with the festival and parade but something everyone can get around. Churches, business, all the civic organizations…I think that will be our common denominator this year.”
And the Grand Marshals will be Frank and Jeannine Richards.
“Frank and Jeannine have been involved since the start. They took over and started the first 25 years of the festival, the parade and the whole shebang. So we wanted to honor them so who better to help host the 50th annual event.”
The Richards were surprised when the announcement was made at the Festival’s fund raising rummage sale over the weekend. Frank recalled the early days when they did everything including cleaning up the trash to get the festival going.
“It’s been an honor and we really enjoyed it. We worked out heart and souls out for this thing and so happy to see it continue and all the people involved in it now it’s just really wonderful.”
Jeannine Richards was long time Parade Chair.
“It’s been wonderful and we’ve had wonderful people working. I’ve always enjoyed it and it’s always been a big job organizing it. I had a big dining room table I just spread out and put everyone on there and in order. And we just loved it.”
Frank Richards says the festival was first started because several in the city wanted to hold a celebration each year.
Cannon hopes to honor others involved in the festival’s past during the parade as well. He reports parade entry forms will be out early next month.
