Smokey skies cleared the morning of July 4, 2008, as if scripted, just in time for Mount Shasta annual Fourth of July Fun Walk/Run.
With mild temperatures in the 70s, an estimated field of more than 4,000 took to the streets for the 2 mile walk and 5 mile run events.
For a complete list of race results visit the website: http://www.racecenter.com/
Winners were recognized during a podium ceremony on Castle Street that concluded with C.B. Warren of Redding winning the raffle drawing for a new Toyota Yaris.
“This is probably the first thing I’ve ever won in my life,” Warren told the large gathering that packed the intersection in front of the stage and streamed in both directions along Mount Shasta Blvd. as many staked out their spots for the parade that followed.
Warren said “it was kind of a surreal moment” when he heard his name called as the car winner. “We registered online and I wasn’t even sure if I was in “the drawing,” he said.
“Do you just get to drive it away?” his wife, Carol, asked after they posed for photographs with the car. “Yes I do,” CB said.
Mount Shasta Blvd. was packed for the town’s annual parade, which was led by grand marshal Mike Rodriguez of the Recreation and Parks District.
The top prize this year went to an old favorite, DENSA, whose sardonic theme this year was “celebrating the American dream of democracy by getting out the vote.”
Of course their voting booth was a porta-potty, their marching band was fronted by a “drool team,” and they were promoting the twisted concept that “everyone has the right to cast your vote for the POTTY of your choice!”
After the parade, the DENSA gang attracted a small gathering of onlookers in front of Lalo’s Restaurant during three hours of live music and dancing that included the stiff moves of a life-size George Bush cutout holding a sign that read “Duh end.”
Second place went to a more staid yet sparkling float created by Scott Valley Bank in celebration of its 150th birthday. The bank’s place near the top of the prize list was “helped by the German Chocolate Cake they gave the judges,” master of ceremonies Rick Martin announced, almost certainly in jest.
The parade’s final entry, a walking circus that featured a jester on stilts, unicyclist, young dancers and apparently hundreds of others who were following them to the center of town, was awarded third place.
Later in the evening, as some haze from numerous north state fires returned to the area, an estimated 3,000 people gathered at the Mt. Shasta Resort to watch one of the best fireworks show ever over Lake Siskiyou, according to many who were there.
Large fireworks watching crowds were also reported at the Lake Siskiyou marina and Wayside Bar and Grill.
Music, some patriotic, some popular, was played at the Resort in conjunction with choreographed bursts of color in the night sky.
The Fourth of July celebration is continuing with live music at Castle Street, a street fair, vendors, and Day in the Son Christian music event at city park July 6.
