Original Ambassador members to be honored for 50 years of parade making

The 2025 Kewanee Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Club has announced that the original members of the Ambassador Club will serve as parade marshals for this year’s Hog Days Parade.

In December of 1973 a group of businessmen formed a committee to act as the public relations arm of the Chamber of Commerce.

Their first accomplishment was to launch the Outstanding Citizen Award and name Gust “Brick” Lundberg as the first recipient in 1975.

Later that year, following Hog Days, the parade was waning and talk of moving the festival was even rumored. The group heard these rumors and decided to offer their help to the festival committee with the parade.

The committee took them up on the offer and the first parade committee meeting was held in May of 1976 with the parade to be held on September 4 of that same year. The parade was a huge success and now a half a century later the group is still undertaking the monumental task of organizing the annual parade- one of the largest in the area.

Members of the original Ambassador Club in December of 1973 included:

Roger Black, Keith Bracken, Art DeCabooter, Ron Doran, Lester Eastman, Robert Field, James Fuhr, Ron Heal, Elmer Hill, Ralph Huggins, Irv Kelman, Roger Kent, Joe Loomis, Bob Lund, Bob Meyer, John Spets, Dean Stoner, Steve Sturm and Gus Zimmerman.

Jim Golby joined the group in February 1974.

The 2025 Parade will kick off Saturday, August 30 at 2 p.m. with Kewanee Police Chief Steve Kijanowski hitting the siren signaling the start of the parade.

In this year’s parade, a few of those original members — led by Ron Heal and Irv Kelman — will ride in the parade aboard a 1931 Ahrens-Fox pumper fire truck that was retired by the Peoria Fire Department in 1964.

The truck has a historical connection to Kewanee, as it was sent here by the Peoria department to help with fighting the 1942 fire that destroyed much of downtown Kewanee.

Anyone interested in being in the parade may sign up online by clicking on the Hog Day Parade tab on the Chamber website at www.kewanee-il.com. Entry deadline is August 18.