The Stumptown Daze Parade started in Guerneville, CA. in 1946 to commemorate those wild and woolly days when the timber industry reached its peak during the mid 1800’s. A young Swiss by the name of George Guerne bought a sawmill in 1865 near Hulbert Creek and realized so much success that the name of the town was changed from Stumptown to Guerneville (not Guern-E-ville, please) in his honor. The event was a three-day celebration in the forties when men were men and alcohol told everybody so. For a price, you can still get your sorry carcass locked up in the “hoosegow”. It might be worth the admission if you’re trying to get away from the little ones. Just a thought.
Stumptown Daze Parade:
Dignitaries such as Fred MacMurray, Carol Burnett, Dick Crest, Jerry Garcia and members of the Guerne family have taken a seat on various floats, vintage vehicles and restored firetrucks during the Stumptown Daze Parade. Pooper-scoopers, which follow the animal-mounted entries (a tail of many aromas), would sometimes neglect a horse-pie. Invariably, this would lead to an eye-popping, crowd pleasing incident where an unsuspecting tourist in his high socks and plaid Bermuda shorts would do a somersault trying to cross Main Street with his snow-cones and garlic fries. Whatever frolics this year’s platinum jubilee (70th) celebration (Saturday, June 18th at 11a.m.) has in store for us, you can surely bet that there will be new (and better) stories to tickle our funny bone(s). Have fun out there and remember to laugh responsibly. Or not.