Perfection on Sherman Avenue
LOREN BENOIT/Press Larry and Sharon Strobel, the 2017 Hometown Heroes Parade Grand Marshals, smile for the crowd during Tuesday morning’s parade in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
LOREN BENOIT/Press The Perfection-Nots march downtown during the July Fourth Hometown Heroes Parade Tuesday morning.
LOREN BENOIT/PressMickey Metcalf waves an American Flag as he walks down the parade route.
LOREN BENOIT/PressU.S. Army Specialist Brittany Wright gives high-fives down the parade route.
LOREN BENOIT/PressSierra Haynes of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe dances down the July Fourth parade route in traditional regalia.
LOREN BENOIT/PressA spectator waves an American Flag during the 2017 July Fourth Hometown Heroes Parade.
LOREN BENOIT/PressLegion of Honor member Bob Green gives of high-fives as he drives his go kart down the July Fourth Hometown Heroes Parade route.
LOREN BENOIT/PressSamantha Houseman, also known as Seymour Guts, does a trick over fellow Snake Pit Derby dames during the July Fourth parade on Tuesday.
COEUR d’ALENE — For the first time in 40 years, Larry and Sharon Strobel did not march with the band they created as a way to bring live music to Coeur d’Alene’s annual Fourth of July Parade.
Instead, just moments before the parade began, members of the Perfection-Nots, dressed in festive attire ranging from a ketchup and mustard bottle to Mudgy and Millie, gathered around the couple at 15th Street and Sherman Avenue.
This year, they told the Strobels, the couple would proceed the marching band in a 1967 Chevy Camaro as this year’s grand marshals.
“Well I declare,” Larry, decked out in an Uncle Sam top hat and colorful suspenders, said to the band after hearing the news. “You guys are what makes this work. I’m nothing without you.”
In 1977, the Strobels saw an article in the newspaper about the upcoming Fourth of July Parade stating organizers were concerned about the lack of music in the parade. Upon hearing the news, several of Larry’s family members persuaded the longtime musician to try to get a makeshift marching band together for the parade.
“Anyway, I pulled this off and we had 52 of us, and we dressed in funny stuff,” Strobel told The Press in a March 2016 article. “It went over well, and we played pretty decently, and we’ve been doing it ever since."
Tuesday’s parade marked the 40th anniversary of that first march down Sherman Avenue. Prior to boarding the classic car, Larry did a final check of the group and ensured each volunteer-member was in the right position for the parade.
“I wanted to march,” Larry told a band member after being congratulated.
Thousand of residents and visitors lined Sherman Avenue for the parade, cheering enthusiastically as participants marched. The parade, which was led by honor guards from various military groups and local emergency response agencies, slowly made its way down Coeur d’Alene’s main thoroughfare and ended at City Park.
“There’s no better place to be than Coeur d’Alene for the Fourth of July,” Mayor Steve Widmyer said while riding on a convertible in the parade, prompting a chorus of cheers and applause.
Kerri Thoreson, who announced the parade participants from a booth perched over Sherman Avenue, could not contain her excitement as she noticed the Strobels were approaching the end of the route.
“This is the most exciting news of the day,” Thoreson said while announcing the grand marshals. “For 40 years the Perfection-Nots have been the highlight of the parade thanks to them.”
Right behind the Strobels, the Perfection-Nots festively marched while playing “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
“Thank you, thank you,” Larry told the crowd. “It’s been a great 40-year ride.”
For members of the marching band like Janie Staples, a Coeur d’Alene resident who has been playing French horn in the group for the last 12 years, Larry is intricately connected to music in the Lake City. Staples told The Press she first heard about Larry in sixth grade when she expressed interest in playing the French horn.
“Everyone said ‘You need to talk to Larry,’” Staples said with a smile.
Seeing the Strobels get named this year’s grand marshals was exciting, Staples added.
“Without him, we wouldn’t be here as a band,” she said. “He’s made music so fun and easy to get into for people of all ages.”