Beating the heat at Crazy Days
Cold drinks and treats, along with deals, a candy drop and the kiddie parade, featured in annual event
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MARSHALL -- A parade full of children fully dressed in matching outfits, free samples, music, and sales up to 50% off lined the street, people holding whole water coolers filled to the brim with ice, freeze pops and cups. On Thursday, the city of Marshall hosted its annual Crazy Days event on Main Street, complete with outdoor vendors and a kiddie parade.
Crazy Days is put on annually by the city of Marshall, it includes the event on Main Street with many businesses joining in for the festivities. The event came to a head at 10:30 a.m. when main street filled with children from various day cares to walk in the kiddie parade.
"They can run around and high five people, but they also made signs this morning," said Marie Sample, the Y Kids Camp staffer. “They’re advertising their Y summer camp and all the fun things that they get to do here.”
The kiddie parade has become a staple of Marshall's Crazy Days event. Some day cares, like the one run by Cathy Homan, have been participating in the parade every year since it’s gone on. This year, she wanted the day care’s theme to be centered around America’s 250th birthday, complete with red, white and blue tie dye shirts and capes with their handprints.
"They put their handprints on their capes because children are the future," Homan said. "That's our motto, to be a good human. They're our future. They're going to be the ones leading the country in the next few years."
After the parade, the children got to sit in the shade with Popsicles and music. Even after walking the parade, some children still had the energy to come out and do a dance party.
Alongside the parade on Main Street, the city of Marshall worked with various local businesses to help them put up stands where they hosted sales, free samples or just took the opportunity to advertise their business, all while trying to find a way to cope with the heat.
Some stands lucked out and got a spot right under a building for shade, like Ryan Gulbranson, owner and operator of the Jam Man. He came back for his second year at the Crazy Days festival. Despite originating from Sioux Falls, Gulbranson plans to come back every year.
“The Chamber is really great to work with," Gulbranson said. "They know our products, and so they they help pick out a spot for all the vendors that their product will do well in. They picked a great spot (in the shade) for us this year because, as you know, if you leave jars of jam on the sun, by the end of the day, you got syrup.”
There were only so many spots under buildings for shade, meaning some businesses had to find their own way to cool off, such as Hannah Lyons working the Caribou Coffee stand, giving out free samples of caffeinated and non caffeinated beverages.
"Fans and lots of shade as much as we can," Lyons said about dealing with the heat.
Wyatt Winter, 17, didn’t seem to mind the heat at all. He biked back and forth on Main Street, enjoying a two for one sale at the Last Stop CD Shop and running into a few people he knew. He had a sweatshirt wrapped around his waist, just in case it rained.
"It's (the heat) never really been a problem for me. I’ve lived here for a while. I know how hot it gets during summer,” Winter said.