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AFAD turns 50
Close-to-record crowds jammed shoulder to shoulder along downtown streets and into Carl Miller Park to honor military service members, veterans and their families during Air Force Appreciation Day's 50th anniversary Saturday.
"Fifty is a huge anniversary. It's a wonderful celebration of Americana," said Col. Scott Moser, commander of the 366th Mission Support Group at Mountain Home Air Force Base.
"It's simply amazing; it absolutely blows me away," added Col. Ronald Buckley, 366th Fighter Wing commander. "It means so much to our military members and their families. It speaks volumes about the outstanding support the entire community and state provides to the military. They take a great amount of pride in making this happen every year."
The celebration started Friday evening with the yearly corn shucking, which brought together several dozen members from the local community and nearby Mountain Home Air Force Base. Together, they prepared all the ears of corn slated for Saturday's barbecue luncheon, which feeds 5,000 each year.
Friday's festivities moved into high gear with the AFAD five-mile run and three-mile walk. The evening's cooler weather kept the competition close for the 111 registered runners and 87 walkers. Several others took part without registering.
For the second consecutive year, Dave Ross crossed the finish line ahead of the pack with a final time of 30 minutes, 52.5 seconds. Laurel McMahan led the women runners again this year, finishing the race in 33 minutes, 8 seconds.
Appreciation day festivities swung into full force as thousands of parade enthusiasts started lining the route Saturday morning. People like Sandra Ball started claiming their spots along American Legion Boulevard by 9 a.m.
"I couldn't wait to see this parade," said Ball, who came to Mountain Home from Gloucestershire, England, to visit her daughter and son-in-law here. The idea of watching military members march by, along with seeing a wide assortment of floats featured in the parade, caught her attention.
For people like Cindy Muckler, getting the best seats along the parade route is part of the fun. For the past six years, it's often been her job to find the prime locations on the route and set out chairs for the rest of her family.
"For a town like Mountain Home, this is a good amount of excitement; a time for children and adults to get together and show their appreciation for those in uniform," said Muckler, whose son previously served in the U.S. armed forces. "It was a real eye opener realizing all those men and women are out there fighting for our freedom. It's only right that we show them our gratitude."
"It's just a lot of fun and a chance to enjoy the small town feel and to see how everyone comes together to appreciate the military," added Rachel Barnes, who waited along North 2nd East Street with her daughter, Madi.
Others had their own personal reasons for showing up early for the appreciation day parade.
"We're here because my brother's going to be in it," said Kamilyn Wright, 13. "We love to come out to catch it."
"Of course, the kids also love all the candy," added Kim Wright, her mother.
Nancy Berto, a former employee at the base hospital, comes back to Mountain Home every year to catch the parade. Now a Boise resident, Berto was a 25-year AFAD parade participant.
"I just had too much fun doing these parades every year," said Berto, who has a son-in-law currently deployed to Afghanistan.
Crowds across the route clapped and cheered as four A-10 Thunderbolts from the Idaho Air National Guard flew over American Legion Boulevard promptly at 10:30 a.m. to officially mark the beginning of this year's procession through Mountain Home.
In the spirit of AFAD's long-standing traditions, Mountain Home News Publisher Coleen Swenson served as this year's parade grand marshal. She continued a legacy started by her father, Lloyd Waters, who served as the parade's first grand marshal.
Parade attendance for AFAD's golden anniversary remained on par compared to celebrations in recent years with more than 135 registered entries as well as a few late stragglers. Each entry qualified for a chance to earn distinction as the Judge's Choice best overall float. That honor went to the Hello Dollies Chapter of the Red Hat Society, which also finished first in the parade's organizations category.
It took more than two hours for the last parade entry to pass the reviewing stand next to Carl Miller Park, making this year's parade a bit shorter than the one featured last year.
Meanwhile, crowds at the park reached near-record numbers as people stopped by to sample the wide variety of food and entertainment available throughout the afternoon.
Many of those people waited in lines stretching nearly halfway into the park to sample the free barbecue beef sandwiches, corn and other fixings that remain a long-standing tradition at each appreciation day festival.
While AFAD's 50th anniversary continued long-standing traditions, it started a new one this year. During the afternoon, volunteers from the local LDS congregations joined forces to keep Carl Miller Park free of trash and other debris, said Dr. John Goodrich, a group spokesperson. By 5 p.m., a team of approximately 250 volunteers from congregations in Mountain Home, Glenns Ferry and Grand View marched across the park to finish the job of removing the remaining garbage.
Previously, that job fell to other members of the local Citizens on Patrol organization, Scouting troops and other civic groups.
More photos available in the Mountain Home News photo gallery