There’s no place like home! is the theme of the 2009 Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival and truer words could not be spoken regarding this year’s Follow the Yellow Brick Road Parade. After a three year absence, the parade returns to downtown Chesterton complete with a TV star as Grand Marshall and a bevy of radio personalities along with lions and tigers and Munchkins marching up Broadway and down Porter Avenue. The Follow the Yellow Brick Road Parade steps off at 10 a.m., Saturday, September 19 from 8th Street and Porter Ave.

A variety of trophies will be awarded ranging from best corporate unit to best novelty unit to best musical unit and more. To be eligible for trophies, entries must adhere to the theme There’s No Place Like Home or Follow the Yellow Brick Road as illustrated in the 1939 MGM classic film “The Wizard of Oz.” Music may represent any of the various film, television or stage productions based upon the L. Frank Baum series of books as long as the music is recognizably Oz. All types of units are welcome according to Follow the Yellow Brick Road Parade co-chairs Peggy Sue Wellsand and Terry O’Donnell, but non-Oz units cannot be judged. Deadline for parade entries is September 10. To add to the fun and the celebration of everything Oz, the parade committee encourages spectators to dress in their favorite Oz character costumes and to join the parade as the last official unit passes them.

After many years of being produced by the Duneland Chamber of Commerce, the Oz Festival became independently produced by Lakeshore Festival & Events (LFE). In 2006, the Oz Festival was moved to the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso and the downtown Chesterton parade was discontinued. At the close of the 2008 event, LFE determined that they would no longer produce the festival.

The Duneland Business Initiative Group spearheaded the return of the festival to this Northwest Indiana town on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Machelle Blount, a Chesterton real estate broker/owner, is president of Duneland Initiative and director of the event. A Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival Committee was formed and they created Friday afternoon and evening activities for September 18. Daylong festivities and over 135 art, craft and food booths will be available on Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20.

ABC-TV personality Janet Davies has been named Grand Marshall of the 2009 Follow the Yellow Brick Road Parade. Davies is a feature reporter and program host on ABC’s popular WLS-TV, channel 7 in Chicago. She joined ABC 7 in August of 1984 and has won at least twelve regional Emmy Awards since. Her daily segments are featured on ABC 7 News at 4 p.m. Every Sunday evening she hosts the highly rated magazine show “190 North.” Davies recently featured Chesterton on the program and included mention of the upcoming Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival. Three Munchkins will be the stars of the parade. Actors Jerry Maren (one of the Lollipop Guild kids), Karl Slover (the first trumpet player to herald Dorothy into Munchkinland) and Margaret Pellegrini (who danced and sang her way through the Munchkinland scene wearing a flowerpot on her head as a hat) will each be carried by a customized LanCam Golf Cart. Munchkins by Marriage Mary Ellen St. Aubin (widow of Parnell St. Aubin, a Munchkin Soldier) and Myrna Swensen (widow of Clarence Swensen, also a Soldier) will also be featured in the parade and Elizabeth Maren, Jerry’s wife, will ride along with the Lollipop Kid.

Also appearing in the parade will be Caren Marsh Doll, Judy Garland’s stand-in for the film. The Baum great-grandsons, author Roger Baum (and his wife Charlene) and re-enactor Robert Baum (and his wife Clare) will be there to share in the parade excitement. Other celebrities include Emmy Award winning producer John Fricke and Garland costume curator Michael Siewert as well as artists Michael Roche and Tim Wolak.

Rounding out the celebrity line-up for the parade are radio personalities Steve Zana and Laura Waluszko of Indiana 105’s Dawn Patrol. The popular country music radio station will feature the award winning radio stars in a special Indiana 105 Dawn Patrol unit.

The official parade route is: North on 8th Street to Broadway. East on Broadway to 4th Street. South on 4th to Indiana Avenue. East on Indiana Avenue to Calumet Road. South on Calumet Road to Porter Avenue. West on Porter Avenue to 8th Street where the parade will end.

The parade staging area is on Porter Avenue behind the Westchester Middle School. For safety and logistical reasons, the parade committee has set up the following schedule. Buses carrying marching band units are asked to arrive by 8 a.m. All other marching and walking units as well as floats, float riders and other vehicles and vehicle riders are asked to arrive by 9 a.m. Also for safety reasons, the following rules must apply: No bicycle or skateboard units will be allowed and nothing is to be thrown from any unit (though walkers passing out candy or literature may stay close to their entry throughout the parade).

The Follow the Yellow Brick Road Parade is sponsored by the Duneland Business Initiative Group and Indiana 105. For details on the parade and the 2009 Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival, please go to the festival website at www.ozfestivalchesterton.com

 or email the committee at ozcrazy@nwird.com

Posted 9/11/2009