State Parade going strong for more than 40 years
Onlookers along the route of the North Dakota State Parade on Saturday, July 20, will be able to see a total of 189 entries.
The parade starts at 9:15 a.m. and follows Burdick Expressway east from Broadway and through the North Dakota State Fairgrounds.
This year’s parade theme is Xtra! Xtra! North Dakota Hot News!” Co-grand marshals are Eloise Ogden, editor of The Minot Daily News, and Jill Schramm, associate editor.
The North Dakota State Parade is held in conjunction with the North Dakota State Fair annually in July in Minot. The first one was held in 1981 with Gov. Alan Olson as grand marshal. Several area residents including Realtor Ken Halley, Bryon “Barney” Lane, Gene Lee and Ed and Arlene Land, organized the event. Ken “Dizzy the Clown” Gillespie was procured to “Bring in the Clowns.”
The first parade was held on a Friday and the route was from the South Kmart, down Broadway to Burdick Expressway, then on to the fairgrounds.
Later events were on Saturday morning of the first weekend of the fair and now start at the intersection of Broadway and Burdick Expressway and through the fairgrounds. The largest parade had more than 300 entries.
The parade became more formally organized and was incorporated as a nonprofit with the State of North Dakota in 1988. Office positions were initiated earlier, and Sylvia Lennick served as the first official chair from 1983 until 1993. Other chairs include Roxy Volk, Sharon Anderson Rud, Kathy Jensen, Linda Wienbar, Ken Stroklund, Loren Vannett and Jim Clifford.
Twyla Scott became parade chair in 2022 when the 40th parade was celebrated. There were no parades held in 2011 due to the Minot flood and in 2020 because of COVID-19.
A committee of volunteers organizes the parade each year. New volunteers are alwayswelcome. The committee starts meeting in January and selects a grand marshal and a theme. Nominees do not need to be North Dakota natives but must have strong ties with North Dakota. Honorees have included media celebrities, sports figures, veterans, politicians and even Miss America. Seated politicians are no longer nominated. The public is welcome to offer suggestions for future grand marshals.