The Chair of the Little Egypt Festival Jay Henke is excited about this year’s parade at two this Saturday afternoon.
He reports the 97 entries includes more floats and bands, with Salem industries among those joining the float building effort.
“As usual, a lot of them are multiple items,” Henke said. “We’ve got a group of side-by-side riders as one entry that’s going to have twenty-plus side-by-sides. There are numerous floats that have more than one vehicle. We’ll have five or six or eight car show entries under one entry. We’re anticipating a big parade. We’ve got a couple of bands. A lot of new stuff, and this year’s going to have a lot more floats than normal.”
Henke credits a fun theme “Music to My Ears” that left lots of possibilities for float builders. He will even be performing himself as Neil Diamond on the Americana Float.
Parade entrants received their instructions at a Tuesday night meeting. He reports Illinois Route 37 and US 50 will be closed to traffic beginning at one pm ahead of the two pm start time for the parade.
The parade caps a day of activity for the Little Egypt Festival. We’ll be telling you more about the downtown and kid activities as well as the car show in the park that are all part of the annual event now in its 53rd year.
