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Richeys selected to lead AFAD parade
For their efforts to keep the community's largest yearly event running smoothly, a local couple will lead this year's parade during the 53rd Annual Air Force Appreciation Day celebration.
Billy and Mary Kay Richey received the grand marshal titles during a chamber of commerce meeting Monday afternoon.
This year marks the fourth time in the parade's history that two people will lead the annual parade. The last was in 2008 when Chet and Jessie Tindall earned the grand marshal titles.
Sue Gross, who chairs the event's parade committee, said Billy and Mary Kay Richey have dedicated countless hours working behind the scenes of the community's military appreciation observance. They arrived in Mountain Home in 1995 after Billy was assigned to nearby Mountain Home Air Force Base.
"They immediately joined in the base and town activities, one of their first of many volunteering efforts was assisting with Air Force Appreciation Day around 15 years ago," Gross said.
A former Air Force pilot, Billy retired from the service with the couple choosing to live in Mountain Home. In recent years, he's remained an active member of each appreciation day event, Gross said.
"(He's) helped with the flyovers, the parade... setting up Friday night's activities and helping to keep everything running smoothly on Saturday at the cook shack," she added.
Meanwhile, Mary Kay has helped organize each appreciation day celebration, including the time she spends serving food and helping clean up after the events scheduled over a two-day period, Gross said. She was also nicknamed the chief "cold beer keg operator" for many years, which volunteers would contend is one of the most important jobs of the whole event, she added.
"AFAD is something that is extremely special -- a one-of-a-kind event in the United States," Billy Richey said. "It's one of the reasons why we stayed -- the community's support of the military."
Being named grand marshal for an event like this "is truly special," he added.
Mary Kay admits she was equally humbled by the selection as grand marshal.
"It represents that you're appreciated" for everything that goes into making the annual celebration so successful, she said. All of people working behind the scenes don't expect anything in return, so being named as the parade grand marshal is an honor.
The couple have two children: Michelle and her daughter, Natasha; and Chuck and his wife, Emily, and their son, Monty.
Continuing a tradition that began in 1970, selections for grand marshal are based on nominations from those who previously earned this distinction.
This year's AFAD festivities begin Sept. 6 in Carl Miller Park as base and community leaders gather to prepare 5,000 ears of corn for a free barbecue the following afternoon.
The preliminaries continue at 6 p.m. that evening with a choice of a five-mile fun run or three-mile walk starting at Carl Miller Park.
The main AFAD events follow at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 7 with a parade that's often billed as one of the largest in the state. Appreciation day activities continue throughout the afternoon in Carl Miller Park at the corner of American Legion Boulevard and North 10th East Street.
Since its first observance in July 1961, the festival brings together military members and their families, along with community leaders, local residents, private businesses and non-profit organizations from the Mountain Home area and across southern Idaho.
"AFAD is so important for us to show our appreciation to the military and what they do -- their sacrifices they make for their country and their dedication to duty, from deployments and exercises to the day-to-day mission," said AFAD Chairman Randy Valley.
With less than a month to go before this year's events begin, AFAD organizers continue to accept registrations from groups planning to join the parade. As of Monday, organizers already had 60 entries registered for the parade -- roughly the same number that had signed up by this time last year.