Who’s the boss: the people’s July 4 parade

By Sarah Bearup-Neal
Sun contributor

Meet Stan Brubaker: Glen Havenite, husband to Jo, father of four children, dog rescuer. There may be more to his CV, but not this: Under no circumstances is Stan Brubaker the boss of the Glen Arbor July 4th parade.

“Nobody has a title,” he said. “Nobody’s in charge.”

Brubaker, 87, is, however, recognized as the guy who started the tradition. And, he’ll cop to one other thing: “I’m the person who gets people lined up in Glen Haven” — the parade’s point of departure.

Glen Arbor’s annual July 4 parade is in its 52nd year. What might well be the least hierarchically-inclined holiday terra floatilla was an idea that traveled north with the Brubakers in 1963 when they started spending summers in Glen Haven. The Brubaker kids made some noise about having a parade like the one back home in Birmingham — from where they moved in 1972. And so, it came to pass.

Parade participation is restriction-free. “Simply get yourself decorated up and come to Glen Haven. A lot of (participants) don’t do any decorating until they get here,” Brubaker said.

The parade leaves at noon and moves east along M-109 toward the gas station at M-22 and Egeler Street. In a nod to practicality and foresight, the Leelanau County Sheriff and fire trucks lead the parade in the unlikely event they need to address a rent in the social fabric. Vintage cars are also placed in the front of the line. “They’ll overheat if they don’t keep moving,” Brubaker said. After that, it’s first-come, first placed.

“You get in line according to when you show up,” he said.

There could be as many as 100 units in the parade, but “nobody ever bothers to count them.”

The one contradiction to the parade’s no titles/no rules spirit is the annual selection of a parade marshal by the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce. Last year, Stan and Jo were honored. This year’s marshal is Mary Turak, owner of The Yarn Shop.

Other than that, “nobody’s in charge,” Brubaker says again. “This is just a group of small town residents getting together to recognize the Fourth of July. It might be getting a little more organized because more people are coming to watch the parade and be in it; but it’s still very casual and that’s good.”