Retired Monroe News reporter gets first-hand view of Monroe County Fair parade

They don’t call it Michigan’s finest fair for nothing.

The Monroe County Fair is many things to many people. But when it comes to pure entertainment, great food and a variety of things to do or see, you can’t go wrong at the fairgrounds off M-50 and South Raisinville Road this week. There’s truly something for everyone.

Take Sunday’s parade through downtown Monroe, for example. The 1 and 1/2-mile procession traditionally kicks off the weeklong fair. Although the number of participants was down this year, there’s always a battle of the high school bands, some high-tech exhibits, 4-H club floats, fire trucks blaring their horns, churches and schools, multicolored tractors and free candy being passed out to eager children.

As honorary parade marshal this year, I got a first-hand, bird's-eye view of this grand spectacle that has drawn thousands to Monroe for more than 70 years. I used to arrive at the parade assembly area early to interview participants, band directors and parade marshals.

Then as the parade would start, I would hustle to drive downtown to ask questions of spectators there and then sit with my family on the front lawn of St. Mary Catholic Central High School.

I covered the parade over the years from the sidelines, but this year I rode in a large people-mover wagon that is used in the parking lots to bring visitors into the fairgrounds. The tractor was driven slowly by Larry Mack and Rich Earl, both fair board members. Riding with me were four of my six grandchildren and my two daughters – Rachel Hinz and Bethany Cousino. The spacious wagon reminded me of my first job loading hay and straw bales in Erie. It’s hard to describe how eye-opening this parade can be when you are in it. What a spectacle for 1 1/2 miles through the downtown and then along heavily shaded West Elm Avenue and see so many people I interviewed or friends I made over 45 years of reporting at the News. The grandkids loved it as much as I did, and we all waved to the little kiddies waving back from their parents’ laps or on the curb. I forgot how awesome this event appears to little tykes.

I was shocked and got a little choked up when I passed the “Monroe” flower memorial on South Monroe Street and saw some of my retired Monroe News family holding signs with the words “Go Dean” printed on them. For years, many of them played a vital role in collecting or designing ads for the fair, writing stories or staffing and running our booth at the fair. I share this honor with them and wish now I would have jumped out of the wagon and hugged them all. Longtime Monroe News photographer Tom Hawley was also there, but running on the street snapping photos of me and the News family as our wagon passed by. Some of his images of the procession are being published today.

Farther down, I got even more emotional when I saw some of my family from Erie and Toledo waving and taking photos from the former Joe’s Standard Service just north of the News’ gathering. Then came my church family at St. John Catholic Church (including Father Mike Anagbogu, the associate pastor) followed by my son, Andy, and his family and some of my wife’s family from Carleton and Dundee along West Elm Avenue. Rachel wore a Drodt Farms’ T-shirt that aptly represented my wife Coliss’s family heritage in Ida. Deceased in 2016 and a former 4-H’er, I felt her presence throughout the parade because she loved the fair even more than I did and must have been clapping and waving from above.

Why the 36-member fair board picked me is still a mystery. I heard there was a run on tomatoes last week at the stores and I feared people would throw them at me.

It’s been six years since the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales marched in the parade and demonstrated their talents at the fair. But even when the Clydesdale hitch and beer wagon wasn’t around, parade watchers marveled as Dr. Joseph Hunt drove his famous eight-mule hitch that he trained and raised on his Carleton farm. In 2014, the fair picked Hunt as its marshal and the 86-year-old family physician didn’t disappoint anyone when he wore a white tuxedo and white top hat in 90-degree weather while standing and directing the hitch. He wore a similar tuxedo for Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson’s welcome home parade after she won Miss America in 1987.

Nobody has come close to Dr. Hunt’s classy appearance since then. Last week, Stan Diroff, parade chairman for years and the marshal five years ago, recalled the many notable people who have served as marshals over the years: Paul W. Smith, Dale Zorn, Mayor Al Cappuccilli, Warren and Linda Siebarth, Larry Sr. and Judy See, Rollin Webb, Earl Reaume, Allen Russell, and Ray and Margie Kuehnlein. Ray said he was glad to have his wife along so she could wave to friends while he smiled at the onlookers. Diroff also noted how Holy Ghost Lutheran Church was picked as marshal one year for its many floats and longtime and popular food concession at the fairgrounds.

For decades, the fair has been one of the highlights of summer for many folks. The midway rides and Little Smokey train rides, fair food and entertainment have been tops! The thrills of being named the homemaker champion or winning a blue ribbon in 4-H or open class judging doesn’t happen every day, nor finishing first in the demolition or combine derby or watching a monster truck show. But holding and planning a fair is a massive operation. It takes tons of people to plan and stage a fair. Even a large board like Monroe’s (36 members) can’t assure success without sponsors, businesses and patrons.

In his pre-fair letter in the premium catalog, fair board President Phil Motylinski of Dundee said that each year countless volunteers, board meetings and work bees and all those involved with the fair contribute to its success.

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“As a lifelong resident and attendee of the fair, my family and I have always looked forward to fair week,” Motylinski wrote. “Our board of directors, 4-H partners, staff, exhibitors, sponsors and volunteers spend many hours working to make fair week memorable.”

It’s this type of commitment that makes the fair happen. I’m thankful to have played a small role in the fair’s growth since the first modern fair in 1948. Much has changed since I covered my first fair 46 summers ago. The faces and names of fair managers, 4-H staff and board members have changed, but the results are the same – the Monroe fair is No. 1 in the state. There may be larger fairs in terms of turnout and participation, but none can pull it together and keep it going despite COVID and weather extremes like Monroe when it comes to community backing and dedication of its volunteers and partnerships with area businesses and professional people. Like the former Jazz and Art Festival in Monroe, the fair is pure Michigan and pure Monroe, a standard of excellence for a community that badly needs something to be proud of, rally around and continue to support.

Dean Cousino retired from The Monroe News in 2022 after 45 years as a reporter.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Retired Monroe News reporter gets first-hand view of fair parade