The Egg Harbor New Year’s Parade has been a happening for over thirty years. How many places have a parade on such a day? Isn’t that day reserved for football, recovery from New Year’s Eve, and generally schlepping around at home and accomplishing little? Not so in the charming village of Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, a place which suddenly comes to life on January 1 in the early afternoon. In fact, it celebrates life, Door County style. So how did this parade get its start? A short history lesson begins the story of one of Wisconsin's most interesting parades.

According to the locals (and they would know best) it all started back in 1977. The bartender that day at the Anchor Inn (now Casey’s) was Mark Feldt.  Darrel Lautenbach and his brother-in-law John stopped and asked Mark if he had seen the parade go by. “What parade”, he inquired, knowing of no such event being scheduled. "We were the parade. We just rode our horses through the village and had a New Year’s Day parade. It's going to get bigger and better every year,” Darrel explained. Looking out the window, across the street, Mark saw two horses decorated in red, white, and blue streamers on their heads, manes, and tails. Darrel continued to inform everyone in the bar that day that this parade was going to get bigger and better every year! And apparently it did. It’s now an officially listed event of the Egg Harbor Business Association, although it really doesn’t need any sponsorship other than its happy participants.

This parade is just plain zany fun. There’s an open invitation to virtually anyone to join the parade. It starts at St. John’s Church (Stella Maris Parish) at the south end of the village and proceeds north to Harbor Hardware. At the lead is the obligatory fire truck and various floats from businesses and organizations. Then comes the zany part. The photos here tell the story.

If you have a dog, dress it up, have it pull something, or have it do something interesting or funny. If you have a llama or an alpaca or the like, just bring it and march it along. (In the photo on the right, it was unclear who was marching whom.) Having an unusual animal automatically qualifies you to participate, and people seem to love seeing creatures in parades. A horse would be great and be reminiscent of that very first parade. A camel has been spotted in Sturgeon Bay's "Christmas by the Bay" parade and should be invited to this one. An unusual or old vehicle is also a great ticket to logical parade entry. Decorated or not, a cool car and a hot motorcycle makes for a fun sight. A piece of heavy construction equipment with some streamers or balloons works well. You're limited only by ingenuity and practicality. Hmmm ... there really isn't much that wouldn't work well, come to think of it!

Another great idea is simply to dress up. Our colorful Door County Scarecrows are in almost every Peninsula event and always look grand, but you can wear a wig, put on a costume or some makeup, pretend to be Elvis or whomever, and you’re sure to be a crowd pleaser. The Egg Harbor folks seem to love it the zanier it is. A kazoo band would be another hit, we’re certain.

All in all, it’s a parade with a flair for casual abandon. It’s a time to leave behind the old year, relax, and let the new year start with a smile on every face. It’s been doing just that for three decades and counting!