Saturday parade to celebrate Monson Bicentennial
The eighth monthly installment of Monson’s 2022 Bicentennial celebration is set for Saturday, Aug. 20.
The main event is a parade that steps off at 10 a.m. Area residents are advised that this will disrupt traffic, so they should plan their travel accordingly.
In addition to the parade, numerous other activities will be taking place all day, including drumming by the Saint John Kineo Tribe at 19 North Guilford Road.
PARADE SIGN — Signs on Route 15 on both sides of Monson advertise Saturday’s Bicentennial parade and warn of traffic disruptions.
A narrow gauge model railroad display from the stations to the quarries will be set up in the Moore building, located across the street from the Monson Historical Society. It runs Aug. 18-22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The model is being brought to Monson from Sedro Wooley, Washington. Karl Kleeman and Dale Bearden have worked on this model for at least two years.
At noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m., the New Sweden Little Folk Dancers will perform next to the Lakeshore House.
Several programs will be taking place in the coworking space located behind the town office. At 12:30 p.m., Brenda Nasberg Jepson will do a presentation on Don Nasberg’s Korean War. At 1:30 p.m., Frank Eld will give a history of Finnish saunas in America, and at 3 p.m. Nasberg Jepson will discuss Homecoming.
The day will conclude at 6 p.m. with a family movie night at the Monson Gym, featuring “Shrek.” Admission is by donation.
Eld has a master of applied historical research degree and is a nationally-known historian and preservationist with a special interest in Finnish history.
Nasberg Jepson has a degree in journalism and learned the craft of television production while living in England and working for the BBC. Jepson taught documentary production at Caribou Technology Center and has had multiple productions shown on PBS. “Don Nasberg’s Korean War” will feature her father and will be narrated by Don along with his photo’s while stationed in Korea. Don has passed away but brother Artie Nasberg will be in attendance and he also served in Korea. Her second program on homecoming traces the families with Monson roots back to an Arctic village in Northern Sweden. Don and nephew Wes Rucker visited family there that they had never met 100 years after their ancestors immigrated to America.