WILLOW CREEK — Willow Creek celebrated the nation’s bicentennial with a parade down Main Street on July 4 that drew 800 people — the largest gathering in town since the mill closure four years earlier.
The parade, organized by a committee chaired by Maeve O’Donnell, featured floats depicting the Thorne & Sons shipyard, a restored 1927 Ford Model T driven by Amos Homan, and the Farr family’s antique milk wagon, pulled by a Percheron horse.
The parade route stretched from the Congregational Church to the old mill site, where a brief ceremony was held. Ezra Homan, now 70, served as grand marshal.
“I’ve seen a lot of parades in this town,” Homan said, seated in the back of a 1956 Chevrolet convertible. “But this one felt different. People needed something to celebrate.”
The Gazette published a commemorative edition with a pullout poster of the town’s history, tracing Willow Creek from its founding through the mill era to the present. The poster included photographs of the Thorne & Sons shipyard, the mill at its peak, and the Ice-Out of 1927.
“I think the bicentennial reminded us that we’re still here,” said Harold Winslow, the Gazette’s publisher. “The mill is gone, and the town is smaller than it was. But 800 people showed up for a parade on Main Street. That’s a town that hasn’t given up.”
The celebration concluded with a fireworks display over Homan’s Pond, funded by donations from local businesses. The display was visible from every house on Homan’s Pond Road — a brief, brilliant reminder of the community that still existed along its shores.
“The bicentennial is a milestone,” the Gazette editorialized. “For the nation, and for Willow Creek. Two hundred years of independence. One hundred forty-five years of continuous settlement. A town that has lost its mill but not its pride. That is worth celebrating.”