Jerry Owens, who along with his wife, Eileen, was part of the very first group to organize Centralia’s Summerfest in 1976, will serve as the grand marshal in this year’s Fourth of July parade, the Centralia Downtown Association (CDA) announced this week. Owens has contributed to Summerfest for many years since taking part in its inception, whether it was planning the festival, playing music or announcing the parade. In a news release, Owens said his motivation for helping to create Summerfest was to provide a family-friendly Independence Day celebration.
“Jerry said that playing music, often with special friends, has been the highlight of Summerfest for him,” the CDA stated in the release. “Another memory he shared is how hot it can be, remembering times that the heat caused transformers to blow and power to be lost. He remembers announcing the parade one year using the speaker system of a police car because there was no power to run the PA system.
Owens shared that there have been many beautiful floats and entries in the parade through the years. One special entry that brought so much fun and laughter for everyone was the Kiwanis funny car. It would swivel, bounce, tilt and do all sorts of crazy things.
The guys driving it were having fun, the people with the group were having fun and everyone watching them was having fun.” Being grand marshal for the Summerfest parade is a special title, Owens said. “It is truly an honor to even be thought of for this,” he s.
