Community gathers for Dayton Daze
BERL TISKUS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 11 months AGO
Taaj and Kai Hendrickson ride their "wild horses" in the Dayton Daze Parade. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
Dolores Simonson holds a cute puppy as she and friends ride in a vintage fire truck in the Dayton Daze Parade. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
Horsewoman Julia Husted, 12, Rollins, rides her paint horse standing up in the saddle in the second lap of Dayton Daze Parade. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
Chief Cliff Volunteer Fire Department trucks and Rollins Fire Department trucks start down Main Street during the Dayton Daze Parade on Sept. 9. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
Reporter Berl Tiskus joined the Lake County Leader team in early March 2023, and covers Ronan City Council, schools, ag and business. Berl grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and earned a degree in English education from MSU-Billings and a degree in elementary education from the University of Montana. Since moving to Polson three decades ago, she’s worked as a substitute teacher, a reporter for the Valley Journal and a secretary for Lake County Extension. | September 14, 2023 12:00 AM
The American flag fluttered gently above the black horse’s head as rider Charlene Brundage led the 32nd annual Dayton Daze Parade through town at 3 p.m. Saturday. Parade watchers lined the road, visiting with friends, neighbors and visitors.
Parade watcher Donald Buske, seated in a lawn chair beside his mother and a friend, said what he liked most about Dayton Daze was community.
Amanda Adams agreed. She said her favorite thing “was getting the community together for an event.”
Adams was busy selling raffle tickets for two guns and other items, directing people to the silent auction and vendors around the perimeter of the lawn outside the Chuckwagon, formerly the Idle Spur.
A huge yard sale was going on across the street, and the Dayton Women’s Club had finished up a rummage sale and lunch at the church in time to watch the parade.
When the parade went by, visiting stopped as people watched the horsewomen followed by the Dayton Wild Horses, alias kids from the Dayton Elementary School. Some were mounted on “horse” bikes, with a cardboard horse head and ears attached to the handlebars. Almost all the children sported western hats and some had buckled on toy pistols. A small covered wagon and prairie girls completed the herd.
The Great Scots Bagpipers, an assortment of vehicles, and many fire trucks from Chief Cliff and Rollins, vintage and new, rounded out the parade. Candy rained on kids and adults alike.
Typical of a small town parade, Dayton’s traverses the route twice. The second time around, Julia Husted, 12, rode her paint horse standing on her saddle, to the delight of the watchers.
Parade judges Lucy Carlson, Chris Moore and Tim Skiftun compared notes and tried to decide who won. Carlson stole a ride on Brundage’s horse, and then went over to join the crowd.
One of three musicians tuned up and began singing Ian Tyson and Tom Russell songs from the porch of the Chuckwagon as a crowd gathered for a pulled pork dinner.
Dayton Daze benefits the Chief Cliff Fire Department, and pretty much the whole community joined the party.
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