Soggy Weather Fails to Dampen Spirits
Independence Day 2025 was a day Council will not soon forget! On July 4th, 2025, the Council Chamber of Commerce had planned out multiple events and festivities for the day under this year’s theme, “It’s the American Way!” The day started out with the Flag Raising Ceremony early at City Park, after which many came to the Community Church for a pancake breakfast. The real talk of the town, however, was the rain on the parade.
It had started to sprinkle as the floats were lining up for the parade. Enough that as many townsfolk were leaving to gather downtown they decided to grab an umbrella on the way out the door. This proved to be a wise decision, because the rain started, and it did not stop! What was a steady rainfall as the parade began soon turned into a bona-fide downpour! Everyone and everything was drenched! Despite this, there was still quite a crowd that turned out for the show!
After the parade, many must have decided the wise thing to do was go home and get a rain jacket (or just go home and dry off!) because the usual crowd that migrated to the porcupine races was obviously diminished. The rain continued during the porcupine races, and everything, from the porcupines to the handlers, were sopping wet.
This year there was a huge turnout of porcupines! 22 porcupines were entered in the races. Of course, there can only be one winner, and that turned out to be a porcupine called Young Prickly, raced by Zach Rasmussen and Weston Zielinski and sponsored by Jim Hileman Logging. Second place went to Barbie and her handlers Mackenzie Sprague and Mackenzie Wilson, sponsored by Wingo Farming, and Third Place was Tank, raced by Thaine and Jasper Bauer and sponsored by Bauer Trucking.
After the porcupine races, it was time for the Council Loggers Jubilee, formerly known as The Saw Contest, an event put on by the new Council Loggers Jubilee nonprofit organization. The crew did great for their first run organizing the event! The Loggers Jubilee had invested in shade tents this year, and that proved to be wise, not because of the sun, but the rain! As it turned out, there was ample shelter for the audience during the show. During the Loggers Jubilee the rain even decided to take a break and let the sun peak out a little. Jessie Davies won first place in the Large Saw event, followed by Chad Stravin in second place and Rick Paradis in third. For the Medium Saw event Rob Derby took the first place prize, Odin Freedman second, and Graham Collings was third. The Jack and Jill event winning team was composed of Odin Freedman, Tana Freedman, and Lance Nichols. The 2nd place team consisted of Cody Shelton, Trina Jokela and Madison Dahl. The 3rd place team consisted of Jacob Shumway, Clayton Dahl and Madison Dahl. The Youth Wood Split first place was Ayden Heinmeyer, second was Owen Hatfield, and third was Keiran Jokela. This year there was a new Tug of war event, which was a lot of fun, but only two teams entered. The winning team was composed of Niles Jokela, Gabe Wilson, Kyle Johnson, Lane Hileman, and Tyler Johnson.
Throughout the day there were vendors in the park downtown (yes, a hearty crew stuck it out through the rain!) as well as several other events. Everyone was wondering, though, if the weather would disrupt the evening’s fireworks show? Not to worry, the show was scheduled to go on, rain or shine. Luckily the weather was lovely by the time dusk came around and the fireworks were splendid and beautiful, a wonderful reminder of the perseverance of the American way!
The Chamber of Commerce had planned festivities not only for the 4th, this year, but also for Saturday the 5th. On Saturday the celebrations continued. It was a beautiful, cool (but sunny!) day where everything had been freshly cleaned and watered by over an inch of rain the previous day. At the golf course the Porcupine Scramble Golf Tournament was planned, and it was lovely weather for it. The vendors in the park returned and in the evening there was a street dance with the live band Soul Patch playing. A new event this year was the Soap Box Derby, which was held on Galena Street. There were four categories, Littles (under 7), Kids 8-12, Teens, and Adults. This year there were only nine cars, but since it was the first derby, the car owners were generous and shared, so over 40 people entered. Participants raced their vehicles down the hill on Galena and the event was a lot of fun! Many attendees were inspired to start making their own cars for next year since the Chamber of Commerce is planning on making the Soap Box Derby an annual event.
All of these wonderful events would not be possible without the plethora of volunteers and sponsors that donated their time and money to the community, from Bill Brown at Wilson’s Lounge who provided all of the trash cans and dumpsters downtown and helped keep the event area clean, to Dr. Bruce Gardner with Heartland Animal Hospital who provided health checks to all of the porcupines and ensured they were fit to race, it takes a community. As Chamber of Commerce president, Katie Church said, “This is a whole community that comes together to bring the Fourth of July to life.”
