By BOB WATSON
Mount Carroll’s annual Fourth of July festivities featuring a parade and a spectacular fireworks display — which is destined to be the final one held at the athletic field — are scheduled for Monday, July 4.
Pork chop sandwiches, jumbo hot dogs, brats, chips, pop and water will be available from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the fire station. Dining inside the fire station is available this year. There will be a concession stand after 5 p.m. at the football field.
Parade line-up begins at 5 p.m. on the 300 block of South Main Street in front of the former public school. The parade steps off at 6 p.m., proceeding north on Main Street through the downtown and then south on Clay Street to Broadway, where it turns east and wends its way to the athletic field.
Grand Marshal of the 2022 parade is Michael Todd, a well-known, community-minded Mount Carroll resident who has mowed the grass at the fire station for free for many years, according to Fire Chief Marty Hockman.
“The fire department wants to thank Michael for all he does for the community,” Chief Hockman said.
Michael, who will be 66 on July 24, has been battling serious health issues for more than a year and currently is residing at Pleasant View Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Morrison.
Close friend Carroll County Clerk Amy Buss, along with Michael’s sister, Sue Bushee, provided an update on Michael as well as a few personal thoughts about the well-respected and popular resident.
“Michael is doing good medically and mentally from the grace of God, but physically he is still weak and has to use a walker and a wheelchair. Michael does not realize the importance of the physical therapy and him pushing through the pain at physical therapy is what is holding him back to a full recovery,” Buss and Bushee said.
Added Buss, “What can I say about the kind of man Michael is? He is stubborn, hardworking, friend to all — but if he doesn’t like you, you definitely know it — and he is one of the funniest people I know, and he doesn’t know how funny he is. This community has embraced Michael and he’s the hometown guy and we hope everyone comes out to see him on July 4.”
Following the conclusion of the parade at the athletic field, a groundbreaking ceremony for the William J. Davis Community Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the West Carroll Middle School parking lot, which is adjacent to where the center will be built.
The proximity of the soon-to-be-built community center is the reason why Mount Carroll’s long-running annual July 4th fireworks show must relocate.
Chief Hockman said state law requires that mortars used for shooting off fireworks must be at least 75 feet away from structures and people per one-inch-sized mortars.
The fire department uses three-inch mortars to shoot the fireworks from the side of the hillside near where the community center will be built, meaning they must be at least 225 feet away from structures and people.
“It’s too close” to the future Davis Community Center, said Chief Hockman. “It will be impossible for us to shoot them off from there.”
The fire chief said plans call for holding next year’s fireworks show at Reid Law’s MC Motocross and Rhythm Section Amphitheater property located a mile north of town, just off Illinois 78.
“We have a verbal agreement and Reid and I shook hands at Mayfest,” said Hockman.
Mount Carroll’s Fourth of July fireworks show is believed to have originated in the late 1940s or early 1950 when a few of the volunteer firemen, including Ted Colehour Sr., Chuck Holman and others, along with their families, gathered at the Fred “Bud” and Echo Rhodes residence on East Ridge Street (now the home of Paul and Debbie Kaczmarski) to celebrate the holiday by shooting off fireworks to the south into what was then a farm field, later becoming the school’s athletic field thanks to the efforts of the Mount Carroll Lions Club.
As the fireworks show became more popular to the general public, firemen moved the event to Shimer College’s south campus in the 1950s, before relocating it to the athletic field in the 1970s, where it’s been held ever since.
The 2022 dazzling fireworks show, staged by the volunteer Mount Carroll Fire Department, begins at dusk in the 9 p.m. range. Fire Chief Hockman said the fireworks display is funded entirely through donations, and this year’s show will cost $20,000, a 31 percent increase from last year due to inflation.
Chief Hockman said the rain date for the parade and fireworks is Tuesday, July 5.
Contributions to the Fireworks Fund can be given to any Mount Carroll volunteer fireman; mailed to the Mount Carroll Fire Department, P.O. Box 194, Mount Carroll, Ill., 61053, Donations can also be dropped off or mailed to the Mirror-Democrat, 308 N. Main St., P.O. Box 191 Mount Carroll.
