The Office of former Omena Mayor, Rosie Disch, is pleased to announce that she will be the Grand Marshal of the Cedar Polka Fest Parade on Saturday, August 24 at 1 p.m. The organizers were anxiously awaiting the results of the recent election in Omena to invite the new mayor. However, when it was announced that the mayor was a horse and the vice mayors were cats, the honor fell to Rosie. Not only is the theme of the event this year “The Dog Days of Summer”, but, as the organizers explained, the horse would not fit in the convertible, and the cats would be hard to see above the dashboard.
After an exhausting three years as mayor, Rosie is excited that she will get to ride instead of walking. This is the first inter-Village diplomatic outreach in Leelanau County since 2009 when Larry Mawby, then President of the Suttons Bay Village Council, invited Omena’s first Mayor, Tucker Joyce, to attend a meeting.
That whole day sounds like a lot of fun — you can go to cedarpolkafest. org for all of the information, but a few highlights on Saturday are a pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m., Classic cars and motorcycles starting at 9 am, Ultimate Air Dogs competition starting at 10 am, Polish Pooch Pageant 10:30 - noon, and then the parade at 1 p.m. And then music all afternoon and evening. Be sure to put it on your calendar!
Speaking of dogs — the Northport Dog Parade this past Saturday was a wonderful event. Congratulations to the Northport-Omena Chamber of Commerce for such a fun parade. This year set a new record with 204 dogs registered to be in the parade. As Omena’s newly elected Deputy Vice Mayor, Porsche McKee was the one official feline entrant. The weather was perfect for the animals – in the upper 60s and the rain held off until afterwards and was never enough to put a damper on the crowds enjoying Northport after the parade.
I think lions were the most prevalent costume. In the Omena contingent, Rosie, Emmie Tomlinson, and Duke Sulau were all lions. Golden Retriever Clyde Joyce was joined Diane Joyce, who was by far the best costumed of the Omena group in her stylish clown outfit. As far as I could see, Piper Heiser was the only performing act in the parade. She jumped for her Frisbee along the parade route to cheers from the crowd. Muffy Chenault was the smallest of the Omena paraders and got to hitch a ride with Sarah most of the way.
Cindy Tomlinson’s sister, Lisa Ippolito, and niece, Bella, were visiting from Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and joined in the parade. Many thanks to Lisa for carrying the Omena Village Council sign and representing the mayor by wearing a horse hat. And many thanks to Kanda and Harold McKee for making the sign and for thinking of getting the horse hat. Very clever! Lisa and Bella said they loved the event, but Cindy reported that Emmie wanted to burn the lion costume. Rosie seconded those sentiments.
For you Freaky Friday fans, Freaky Friday 2 has an Omena connection –— as did the original movie. The Freaky Friday house was actually the home of lifelong Omena seasonal resident Brenda Anderson. That house is still her home along with her husband Tom Rohlf. And Freaky Friday 2 will again be there, along with much of its original cast, including Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Mark Harmon. Filming begins this week in their home in one of LA’s neighborhoods.
Brenda said that while not much lasts in LA, the photography scout was delighted when Brenda answered the landline number that they had from 2003, and still lived in the same house, which, remarkably, had not changed much. The release of Freaky Friday 2 is planned for 2025.
Everyone is invited to attend worship at Omena Presbyterian Church this Sunday at 10 am. The Rev. Dr. Trygve Johnson will be preaching. Roxanne Deibel and Kama Ross will be playing their flutes for the special music, with Patrick Kuhl on the organ.
Happy Birthday this week to Rink Smith, who turns a quarter of a century old. Happy Birthday also to Penny Valmassoi, Julie Shapiro, Alexander Bronke, and Jenni Singer. Happy Birthday last week to Laurie Remter, who was mysteriously omitted for the second year in a row.
This is one of those rare weeks when there as many anniversaries as birthdays. Happy 25th Anniversary this week to Matt and Kelli Fitzgerald, who met while working at Woody’s, aka “Hotel Liquor”. Woody’s was a beloved bar and restaurant in Northport. Happy Anniversary also to Scott and Ruth Walker, Dylan and Emily Hawkins, Jake and Teddy Buzby, who are celebrating their 4th anniversary, and to Robert and Lucy Wingfield, who were married 3 years ago in Omena.
