This year marks the 95th Labor Day celebration in Suring, with events scheduled from Aug. 29 through Sept. 1.
The Labor Day parade will begin at 10 a.m., lining up at the Suring School and traveling east on Main Street. Onlookers of all ages line the street as early as 8 a.m. for front row seats for the best view and first dibs on the candy thrown from those participating in the parade.
The parade is sponsored by the Suring Lions Club.
Longstanding community members Jay and Katie Tousey have been selected as grand marshals to lead the parade.
The Touseys will celebrate 48 years of marriage in October. Their children (Todd, Jenni and Jason), grandchildren (Emma, Abby, Axl and Penelope) and other extended relatives will be in attendance for this special occasion.
The Touseys were surprised when told they would be the parade marshals.
“Not only surprised, but I also felt old,” said Katie Tousey. “When I was a girl, I lived in Illinois, and my family would drive up for the Labor Day festivities in Suring. My cousins and I would march in the ‘kiddie parade’ on Saturday. They would pass out 50-cent pieces to all the children for participating, and then we’d sit on the window ledges of Suring State Bank and watch the main parade on Monday. There used to be pony rides and a Ferris wheel back then.”
Around that same time, Jay Tousey and his two eldest sisters would roam the carnival together.
“I remember one year my father was at the breakfast table Monday morning telling us kids he couldn’t believe the amount of money we had gone through the day before,” he said. “My sisters and I had been running around at the carnival, going on rides and tugging on my dad’s shirt only when we needed more dollars and quarters. We were told we had blown through a whopping $10, which back then was a lot of money.”
The Touseys have fond memories as children enjoying the celebrations, not knowing at the time that they’d some day meet and raise their family enjoying those same festivities.
The Tousey family has been participating in some way, shape or form in the parade since the early 1950s when Jay’s father, Gordon Tousey, would steam up his 1913 60-horsepower Case and drive down Main Street, blowing the familiar steam engine whistle.
Anyone who attended the parade in previous years may have seen or heard the engine rolling down the road. Jay Tousey and his brother, Tony, kept the tradition going over the years since then. Although the steam engines haven’t been driven in the parade since 2016, the family is hoping the engines will make another appearance in the near future.
Jay Tousey’s participation in the community has included 30-plus years as the Suring Village President, president of the Suring Sportsman’s Club and 56 years as a member as well as post commander of American Legion Post 283. A Suring native, he has lived, worked and raised his family in the community.
While his wife, Katie, was born in Illinois, she spent many years visiting village as a child with her family. Her mother was born on Main Street in the original boarding house before it served as a supper club. Katie Tousey served as a member of the Suring School Board for 12 years, and continues to assist at the polls on Election Day.
The four-day festival features plenty of activities before the parade itself.
Among the events are a library book sale, brat fry, church rummage sale, truck pull, live music, food stands, museum tours, tractor pull, chili cook-off, bean ban tournament, demolition derby, children’s activities, alumni basketball game, fireworks and more.
For a full schedule and more information, visit https://suringlaborday.wordpress.com.
