The 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks inspired Chesterton firefighter Marc Mihalik to walk in full gear for the 5K Popcorn Panic, about 3.1 miles, on Saturday.
“I got asked a few weird questions” along the route, he said. “Did you lose a bet? No. I got asked if I was a firefighter or a stripper. I said yes.”
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Mihalik planned to walk in a 5K race in Chesterton that was canceled because of extensive tree damage from the Aug. 11 derecho and its hurricane-force winds, so he popped over to the Popcorn Festival instead.
So what drove him to become a firefighter? “We’re psychotic is what we tell people,” he said. “It’s a calling.”
The 5K race might not be his last event to wear full gear. “I would do a stair climb if I do one again,” he said.
In one of the staging areas for Saturday’s parade, Jennifer Wright, CEO of Hilltop Neighborhood House, was all ears when it came to corny jokes.
Wright passed out corn hats for her supporters. “We have about 100 walkers coming out today for Hilltop” in the parade, she said.
“This is one of our favorite events,” Wright said.
“I was here for the very first Popcorn Festival,” in 1979, she said. “This is one of the best parts about living in Valparaiso.”
“We have the school bands, and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts and the cheerleaders and many others,” she said. Valparaiso Events, which produces the festival, registered more than 100 entries in the parade.
Donna Flanagin, dressed as a fairy godmother, said she has been going to the Popcorn Festival for 47 years, and her float was in the 47th spot in the parade.
Flanagin sold her business, Flanagin’s Bulk Mail, in June and is enjoying retirement in Valparaiso.
“It was a great place to have a business, a great place to raise a family,” she said. Her daughter was one year old when she attended the first Popcorn Festival.
Flanagin rode on the fairy castle float along with a few others. Most of the fairies walked the parade route, handing out postcards and things to kids.
“The kids are actually amazing,” she said.
“We do this for the children,” Flanagin said. “They are so excited and such believers.”
For Leonard and Linda Kazmirski, of Mishawaka, life is like whatever boats your float. They took their son’s 23-foot boat trailer and turned it into a patriotic float that is making the rounds this summer.
“This is our hobby. We build floats for a hobby,” Leonard said.
It began in 2011 when Leonard volunteered for the South Bend Little League and planned to join in the Memorial Day parade. “We made a little eight-foot float,” complete with a baseball diamond and players, and won first place, Leonard said.
In 2019, they had a float in the national Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C. “Parked in front of us was Lt. Dan from the movie ‘Forrest Gump.’ Right behind us was Lou Holtz,” the legendary University of Notre Dame football coach.
Holtz saw the magnetic sign on their van saying they were from Mishawaka, and it was old home week for them. Holtz kept flagging down people to see the Kazmirskis and their float. “It was worth it just for that,” Leonard said.
That parade was just six blocks long, and Linda was disappointed they couldn’t get close enough to the White House to get a photo of the iconic building with their float in the foreground.
“We go to 25, 30 parades a year,” Leonard said. During Christmas season, they do about 10 parades, including Chesterton, Auburn and Battle Creek, Michigan. “There’s others closer, but we only do night parades for the lights.”
Scott Gabel, of Valparaiso, helped staff the St. Paul Men’s Club tent, where brats and hot dogs were the order of the day. He hoped they would sell all of the 3,100 brats and hot dogs as they raised money for charities. Last year, rain resulted in leftovers.
With good weather, Gabel expected the men’s group to earn a few thousand dollars.
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“We raise it to give it away,” he said, going to charities like St. Agnes adult daycare and others.
The St. Paul Men’s Club has been in the same location ever since the first Popcorn Festival was held.
Gabel hopes the club’s presence at the festival shows the church is part of the community and increases visibility for people looking for a parish.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.