Kiddie Bike Parade draws children, families

About 75 youngsters participated in the Kiddie Bike Parade Monday. Most decorated their bikes and bodies in colors of red, white and blue but some chose alternate apparel like one young lady who dressed in pink and green and adorned her two-wheeler with a palm tree.

The Kiddie Bike Parade is an annual event organized by the Main Street Downtown Association. It started about seven years ago, said Charlie Kourajian, ambassador for the association, as a way to give residents something to do on the Fourth of July. Most of the organized festivities don’t start until dark, he said.

“I think the kids enjoy it,” Kourajian said.

The bikers and their families started the mile and a half trek downtown on First Avenue South and with escorts from the Jamestown Police Department, finished at McElroy Park where the Sertoma Club furnished root beer floats.

Sertoma Club gets involved with events like the Kiddie Bike Parade because its mission is service to mankind, said Jerry Veil, Sertoma president. The Sertoma Club has served root beer floats since the parade’s inception.

“We’ll do it as long as they have the parade,” he said.

The event is a community effort, Kourajian said.

Dairy Queen gives away ice cream cones and Officeland and Central Valley Health give prizes away as well as an award for best decorated bike.

Gracie Gunderson of Medina, N.D., took the honor this year for her patriotic-themed two-wheeler with American flags popping out the front and an Uncle Sam’s hat atop her head.

Sun reporter Katie Ryan-Anderson can be reached at 701-952-8454 or by e-mail at kryan@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, parade