Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Dollar by dollar and flag by flag, volunteers here — with some big help from the business community — are planning to raise $34,000 to fund the local Fourth of July celebration.

The funds are needed to cover a cash shortfall to fund the annul celebration sponsored by American Legion Post 225, said Barb Olson, parade chair, last week.

The volunteers — a trio made up of Krista Richter, Jan Scarp and Lee Goodyear — surfaced this spring when they learned of the potential financial crisis facing the Legion’s summer celebration. They have come to Olson’s aid and with the added inspiration of Forest Laker owner Pete Paidar, have formed a plan that will give the public a chance to help fund the celebration.

The backbone of the effort is the sale of flag photos at $1 each. The photos are now available at businesses throughout Forest Lake and the area.

“If everyone in Forest Lake pitched in $2 we’d have it covered,” Richter said of the flag sale drive.

The volunteers, with the help of Paidar, Olson and members of the Sons of the American Legion, have formed a fund-raising subcommittee that is assisting the main parade committee led by Olson.

The flag sales will be offered through Flag Day on June 14 and will be sold at the revived Forest Lake Chamber of Commerce Fun in the Forest event June 2-3 at Lakeside Memorial Park.

A total of 10,000 flag photos and informational packets for participating businesses have been donated by Rapid Press owner and city Mayor Stev Stegner.

Olson said the overture from the volunteers arrived at the perfect time. Faced by limited charitable gambling proceeds and mounting capital facility expenses and property taxes, the Post 225 celebration cupboard was bare, Olson said.

The $34,000 is the amount the Legion needs to carry on the parade and the fireworks, Olson said.

The flag photo sales are the heart of the appeal to the community for financial help. “This way everybody in the community can help,” Richter said.

This year’s 83rd annual Independence Day celebration will carry the following theme: “Bridging the Gap to Freedom.”

Other efforts

The flag photo sales are just one of the fund-raising efforts the subcommittee is working on.

Olson, as parade chair, will be continuing the Legion’s tradition of asking businesses in the area to make a donation or sponsor a parade unit. Letters to businesses are not being sent out this year, she said, adding that she will make personal calls on each business to ask for help.

But other events are designed to inject some fun into the drive.

That’s where Paidar has entered the picture.

He has been the lead figure in organizing a fund-raising competition among six bars in Forest Lake. Each bar will sponsor some type of activity as a method of raising dollars to support the celebration, Paidar said.

The preliminary slate of bar events is as follows:

•April 28, VFW Post 4210 Celebrating Freedom Party, 556 SW 12th St.

•May 12, American Legion Post 225 Let Freedom Ring Party, 225 W. Broadway Ave.

•June 3, Upperdeck and Forest Laker Forest Lake Lakeside Freedom Party, Lakeside Memorial Park, downtown Forest Lake.

•June 16, Friar Tuck’s Dumpster Hot Tub Party, Northland Plaza next to Northland Mall.

•June 23, Dummy’s Dummy Fest, 7050 Scandia Trail N. (TH-97).

The bar that produces the largest donation for the parade and fireworks drive will receive a “most patriotic bar” trophy donated by Abba Trophy and can select a representative to ride in the July 4th parade as a special honor.

Paidar believes the fund-raising efforts will gain momentum and be successful.

“Everybody has helped out in a big way,” Paidar said. “I think we’ll be amazed at the amount of money we’ll raise.”

Other fund-raising programs set include a garage sale at Post 225 on May 2-4 and the annual sale of buttons commemorating the celebration.

Members of the public wishing to get involved or who would like more information should call Olson at 651-464-5769.

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