News Photo by Julie Goldberg Thousands of people lined the streets of Alpena Wednesday for the annual Fourth of July parade.

News Photo by Julie Goldberg
Thousands of people lined the streets of Alpena Wednesday for the annual Fourth of July parade.

“We couldn’t be more proud of Alpena. People have so much fun with their floats and parade entries and this year was no exception,” Casey Stutzman, founder of Performance Locker and Alpena Fourth of July Parade director, said. “We invited our active military and veterans to join us this year to show how grateful we are for their service.

“Our special theme this year was Rosie the Riveter to honor women who went to work during WWII while men were fighting overseas. The theme was about empowering the women of our nation and acknowledging that it takes all of us. We were excited to see so many enthusiastic Rosie the Riveter entries. We know it was a crowd favorite.”

More than 60 parade floats and hundreds of participants followed the same route as previous years, ending at the Thunder Bay Maritime Festival. This year’s parade judges were Bradley Przeslawski, Greg Sundin, and Matt Muszynski.

The results were:

Commercial Division:

1. Northland Area Federal Credit Union

2. Walmart of Alpena

Non-Commercial Division:

1s. Stephen Sillers Tunnel 2 Towers Memorial 5K

2. Relay for Life

Best Interpretation of Secondary Theme (Rosie the Riveter):

1. Alpena Charter Township Fire Department

2. Shipwreck Alley Rollers

Winners will be notified of their awards.