The longest running Loyalty Day celebration in the nation is right here in Long Beach, Wash., where the national salute to American patriotism has been celebrated every May since 1950. This year, Loyalty Day is the weekend of April 30 / May 1 with parades, food and fun for the whole family.

“Long Beach is the only place in the nation to do this every year,” says Bob Andrew, president of the Loyalty Day Foundation, the non-profit that helps fund the event. Andrew and his wife, Judi Andrew, the foundation’s secretary, have helped with the celebration every year since 1974. “My favorite thing about Loyalty Day is the community involvement,” Bob Andrew says. “We show the right spirit: Flags are waving, the patriotism is there.”

In keeping with the theme for Loyalty Day 2005, “Patriotism Within The Corps of Discovery,” the featured speaker at the Loyalty Day Program Sunday is Bill Barker as President Thomas Jefferson, who sent Lewis and Clark on their journey to the Pacific 200 years ago. Barker, a nationally-known “character interpreter,” has performed as Jefferson throughout the U.S., Great Britain and France, and on television. The program starts at noon Sunday at the reviewing stand in downtown Long Beach.

The 2004 Loydalty Day court sailed along the parade route in a horse-drawn carriage.At 1 p.m. Sunday, the big Loyalty Day Parade makes its way through downtown Long Beach, with spectators cheering and waving flags along the route. It starts on Pacific Avenue at 10th Street North in Long Beach, heads south to 10th Street South, turns east and continues to Washington Street, then turns north to Fourth Street South, ending at Long Beach School.

Leading the parade will be the U.S. Army I-Corps Band and Color Guard from Fort Lewis, Wash. Five Oregon National Guard units from Rilea Armed Forces Training Camp in Warrenton will participate, as well as 10 high school marching bands, veterans’ organizations and several drill teams from the Seattle area and Bellingham, Wash.

The Jelly Bean Choir, made up of area second- and third-grade students, marches through downtown Ilwaco performing their kazoo symphony.Dozens of unique and interesting floats are among the 100-plus entries in the parade. Riding on one of the floats will be Miss Loyalty 2005, Sadie Newell, Junior Miss Loyalty 2005, Kiana Eccelstone and their courts.

The Chinook Tribe has entered three floats, each featuring a hand-built canoe. Other entries include floats from the Winlock (Wash.) Egg Festival, the National Park Service and the Columbia River Newfoundland Club from Portland, with 20 dogs in a mock keel boat mounted on a trailer. A Newfoundland dog named Seaman accompanied Lewis and Clark on their famous journey.

On Saturday, the city of Ilwaco puts on the Kids’ Parade, which starts in downtown Ilwaco at noon and heads toward the Port of Ilwaco. It features the Ilwaco Middle School Band, kids in costumes, goats, ponies and dogs in clown hats. Decorated bicycles, wagons and riding lawnmowers take the place of floats, and there are lots of prizes.

Students and teachers from the Peninsula Church Center Daycare were a sight to see, decked out in red, white and blue.The Kids’ Parade is Ilwaco Mayor Ed Leonard’s favorite event. “I get to give the Mayor’s Trophy to anyone I want. It’s one of the few joys of being mayor,” Leonard jokes.

Before the Kids’ Parade is the Black Lake Fishing Derby for children ages 14 and younger. It runs from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday, with free food and random prize drawings. Grand prize is a charter boat trip for two from CoHo Charters.

The U.S. Coast Guard plays a role in Loyalty Day. There’s a Coast Guard display Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ilwaco Boat Basin, and a flyover starts the parade at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Coast Guard also participates in the Blessing of the Fleet Saturday.

With their faces painted and hijinks on their minds, the Astoria Clowns and Afifi Shriners from Tacoma, Wash., made fun out of the parade.Boats leave the Ilwaco dock at 1 p.m. Saturday for the Blessing of the Fleet, sponsored by the Ilwaco Charter Association. Port Manager Mack Funk says a parade of charter boats, filled with as many passengers as space and the number of life jackets on board permit, form a big circle inside the Columbia River bar. Then a Coast Guard helicopter drops a big wreath of flowers in the middle of the circle in honor of lost mariners and to launch the fishing season.

The boats are decorated with flags, says Captain Ron Malast, owner of the Big Dipper, a 52-foot charter boat. He says passengers on every boat throw flowers and some throw the ashes of loved ones into the sea before the procession heads back.

Food

Oysters take center stage at the Willapa Seafood Festival, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Nahcotta Mooring Basin and are featured again at the Oyster Feed, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Long Beach Elks Club. The Ilwaco Saturday Market at the Port of Ilwaco is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a variety of food booths. Saturday afternoon from 4 to 7 p.m., dine on salmon at the Chinook Tribal Dinner at the Ilwaco Heritage Museum. And Sunday morning, enjoy the all-you-can eat Cowboy Breakfast at the Peninsula Saddle Grounds on Sandridge Road, south of Sid Snyder Drive in Long Beach. On the menu are pancakes, ham and eggs and biscuits and gravy, served from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday by members of the Peninsula Saddle Club.

Schedule

Saturday

Willapa Seafood Festival, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Nahcotta Mooring Basin

U.S. Coast Guard Display, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Ilwaco Boat Basin

Kids Parade, Ilwaco

11 a.m. – Entertainment

11:30 a.m. – Parade formation

Noon – Parade starts

Blessing of the Fleet, 1 p.m.

Ilwaco Boat Basin

Oyster Feed, noon- 6 p.m.

Long Beach Elks Lodge

Honors Banquet, Long Beach Elks

6 p.m. – Social hour

7 p.m. – Dinner

Call (360) 642-4441 for reservations

Sunday

Cowboy Breakfast, 7-11 a.m.

Peninsula Saddle Grounds

Fire Truck Rides for Kids, 10-11 a.m.

Ilwaco City Hall

Judging of Floats, 11 a.m.

North Seventh Street, Long Beach

Parade Formation, noon

North Seventh Street, Long Beach

Loyalty Day Program, noon-1 p.m.

Downtown Long Beach

Loyalty Day Parade, 1 p.m.

Downtown Long Beach

Trophies awarded, 3:30 p.m.

Chinook Tribal Dinner, 4-7 p.m.

Ilwaco Heritage Museum