BLACK OAK LAKE INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE

Since 1976 the Black Oak Boat Parade has been held on the Fourth of July. The schedule is simple – Four on the Fourth. Boats form up in no particular order in front of the public beach at 4pm on July 4th regardless of the day of the week. An odd number of judges (usually 5) are placed around the lake or are possibly even in the parade itself on non-competing boats. The locations and identities of these judges are unknown to the competitors. The parade progresses counter-clockwise, i.e. up the east shore first, at the speed of the slowest boat. The complete circuit takes about one hour.

There are two classes of competition – Pontoon Boats and Non-Pontoon Boats. A competitive entry may employ more than one boat. If any of the boats in an entry is a pontoon boat that entry will be judged in the pontoon boat class even if the pontoon boat is being towed. There shall be no pre-announced theme so as to allow entrants maximum flexibility in demonstrating their creativity. To be judged an entry must fly an American flag of any size somewhere on each of its boats and must complete the entire lake circuit. Non competing boats can enter or leave the parade at any point.

Judges will rank the entries as first, second, and third in each of the two classes. Appropriate traveling trophies are awarded to the first place finishers and second and third place plaques go to the other places.

The parade organizer (currently Walt Bates) appoints the judges and collects their votes. He has the plaques on the first place trophies engraved according to the wishes of the respective winners and presents the awards at the annual picnic though their names are released as soon as votes are tabulated. The past winners of these first place trophies are as follows:

		$Description: C:\my documents\parade3.jpg$	$Description: C:\my documents\parade4.jpg$
	*YEAR*	*PONTOON ENTRY WINNER*	*NON-PONTOON ENTRY WINNER*
	1982	CHUCK BATES & CREW	N/A
	1983	CHUCK BATES & CREW	N/A
	1984	MARV PETERSON & CREW	N/A
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	1985	WALT BATES & THE SURF SKIERS	N/A
	1986	BARB & ED HOOK	DUFFS & HESSELMANS
	1987	HELEN JO & MIKE VOLPE & CREW	THE TRACYS
	1988	BARB & ED HOOK	THE LOMMEN FAMILY
	1989	GELB HOFFMAN OLK KIDS	MR & MRS CHRIS HOOK
	1990	THE HOOK CLAN	THE MORRIS CLAN
	1991	<NO PONTOON ENTRY>	THE CLARKE FAMILY
	1992	JOAN & MARK MIRECKI	THE GELB FAMILY
	1993	THE KUGLITSCH CHARACTERS	JIM BATES
	1994	HOOK FAMILY	DUFFS & HESSELMANS
	1995	MIRECKI & LLANAS	THE BERG FAMILY
	1996	HOOK'S BATMEN	THE HESSELMAN FAMILY
	1997	ANNIN'S CIRCUS	THE SPINNER FAMILY
	1998	HOOK FAMILY	THE HESSELMAN FAMILY
	1999	BEEDIE FAMILY	GORDY HINNERS
	2000	HOOK FAMILY	DIRK MEYER
	2001	PIERCE, VOLPE, BATMAN	THE HESSELMAN FAMILY
	2002	HESSELMAN FAMILY	THE LAUER SYNCHRO TEAM
	2003	ANNIN'S TORTOISE & HARE	THE LAUER CYCLISTS
	2004	BATES AIRLINES	LAUER GRAPES
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	2005	MADIGAN'S ISLAND	THE HOOK'S 50th ANNIVERSARY
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	2006	MEYER’S CHRISTMAS IN JULY	MADIGAN’S BOL CIRCUS
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	2007	BEERS FAMILY – CLEAN BOATS CLEAN WATERS	HESSELMANS’ PIRATES OF BOLROA
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	2008	BEERS FAMILY – ARC OF BLACK OAK	ANNIN’S VIKINGS
	2009	ZANE FAMILY – LADY LIBERTY	JACK & ELISABETH’S ENGAGEMENT
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	2010	BATES CREW – PLEASE SOAK BLACK OAK	(No non-pontoon entry)
$Description: C:\my documents\star1.jpg$	2011	THE PORSCHE / SUNDBURG ALOHA	HESSELMAN / TURNER BOAT RAMP

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HESSELMANS’ PIRATES OF BOLROA

ZANE FAMILY – LADY LIBERTY

BATES CREW – PLEASE SOAK BLACK OAK

THE PORSCHE / SUNDBURG ALOHA