Fourth of July 2011

Garnavillo, Iowa

The town of Garnavillo, Iowa with a population of 700 has been celebrating the Fourth of July with a grand parade and fireworks display for over twenty years. As a former Iowa Tractor Boy I always look forward to this event.

The Parade always starts with our National Anthem and the salute to our Nation's Flag. Here you can view this Flag as well as the Flag of the State of Iowa. I am especially proud of the Iowa Motto, "Our Liberties We Prize, Our Rights We Will Maintain."

No parade would be complete without floats from various organizations, but it is the tractors that garner a lot of interest. For those who are not familiar with brands I will say that this is a John Deere.

Many farmers also restore tractor's from their childhood or their parents or even grandparents era. This is an early model of a Farmall Tractor.


This is an Allis Chalmers Tractor. I have fond memories of an Allis Chalmers Model "C" which my Dad purchased in 1944 when I was four years old. I even remember the day he drove it home. It included a two row cultivator and a two bottom plow. The price for all of this was around $700.00.

This is a Massey Harris Tractor. In addition to the many tractors in the parade there were floats from various church organizations and each fire department in Clayton County was also well represented. Every young person had a plastic bag to pick up the candies that were thrown to them by the many entries in the parade.

I wonderful day for a parade in a small Iowa Town. The population of Garnavillo during the parade must have been about 5000. The parade lasted over one and one half hours.