Pine Haven Days

Pine Haven celebrated their annual Labor Day Parade and Fish Fry Saturday.

Parade

The celebration started with a parade showing off a few familiar faces and floats as well as a couple new ones.

A stand-out this year was the "Vettes for Vets". This special event was the brainstorm of Councilwoman Karla Brandenberg.

Thirteen Chevrolet Corvettes carrying the names of the 13 soldiers lost in Afghanistan recently followed soldiers Sergeant First Class Pangus, Sergeant Abelseth and Staff Sergeant Boyd at the end of the regular lineup. These soldiers were requisitioned from the Wyoming National Guard stationed in Gillette.

"I came up with the idea because it seems to me that the government is not thanking these men and women enough and I wanted to make sure the people were," Brandenberg said.

Reactions from the crowd spanned from tears to cheers and silent respect to waving small flags. "To me, it brought a lot of patriotism to let our young kids know and to bring our country back to the way it should be," said Brandenberg.

She has found ways to deliver the signs to three of the 13 families already and plans to continue trying to let them know how much their sacrifice means to people.

Fish fry

Later, the Northeast Wyoming Walleye Association (NWWA) hosted their annual Fish Fry to over 1000 guests. Co-organizer Sharon Coleman said that it was the best turn out so far.

"It was a fantastic time! We fed everyone, but had no food left and the Garro Brothers Band was amazing and played until 11 p.m.," she said.

Tina Hannah received a Traeger grill and Tim Ireland paid $4600 for an ice hut at the silent auction. There were 180 kids who received prizes throughout the afternoon as well.

In total, the NWWA Fish Fry raised close to $20,000 this year.