Hundreds of people gathered through a few blocks on Market Street Saturday for a day full of Americana. What they saw impressed them.

Just ask the Harborites — there weren’t just Aberdonians who attended the 10th anniversary of Aberdeen Founder’s Day Parade. Founder’s Day celebrates when Sam Benn founded the city in 1884. The city was incorporated in 1890.

Christina Jones and her two sons, Liam, 3, and Sebastian, 4, had a great time as they sat at the corner of North Broadway and East Market Street.

“It’s our first time,” Jones said as her happy boys were waving their miniature American flags. “It’s a lot better than I expected. It’s a very good turnout.”

Jones and her sons weren’t just there to see the parade. They had one parade entrant in mind.

“I’m really excited because two of my daughters are cheering in the Zero Gravity Competition,” Jones said of her 16- and 11-year-old daughters.

The festivities included the parade, a long list of food and merchandise vendors — check with Karen Rowe, co-owner of GH Wine Sellars who puts on the event — a bouncy castle, an inflatable wall for children to climb and other family-friendly activities.

Mandi Gourlie, her husband and son, loved how diverse the choices were.

“I like how there’s lots of stuff for little ones to do,” said Gourlie, who was glad to attend the festival Saturday.

“It was fun,” Gourlie said. “The guy with the spider was pretty sweet. Our son loved that one.”

It wasn’t just Aberdonians who felt the joy from the festival held on the 70-degree weather and blue sky. Adam Horvath, of Hoquiam, and his two children Ray and Alaina, had a blast as well. They looked forward to this year.

“We go every year,” Horvath said. “Our favorite float was the Spider car. They sprayed silly string out the back to make it look like a web.”

Horvath enjoyed the emcee efforts from Phil Luceman, content director for KIX 95.3.

“He’s doing excellent,” Horvath said. “I like how he sounds. He’s doing a good job of keeping people up to date of what’s going on here.”

In addition to providing a bevy of information about the history of Aberdeen, Grays Harbor and the many organizations throughout the city and county, Luceman also provided a few laughs.

One of the laughs was from a lighthearted jab at “Spider car” creator Kevin Lorentzen, of Raymond. The friendly line Luceman said was part of the impressive eight-legged float’s introduction to the crowd.

“He has too much time as you can see,” Luceman said.

Lorentzen had the float with the most. His “Spider car” won Aberdeen Founder’s Day Parade and Festival’s Peoples Choice Award. It’s the fifth first-place award Lorentzen has won throughout the county.

Lorentzen talked about his “Spider car” after the parade. The spooky arachnid made from a near 40-year-old car was parked on Broadway outside of a fire hose demonstration that Aberdeen Fire Department was putting on for the children in the city’s lot with the “Kelp Forest” mural.

“I just like seeing how people react to it,” Lorentzen said. “And seeing how the kids react to this thing is incredible.”

The “Spider car” was made from a 1986 Toyota Corolla, but the joke’s on people at the parade. They thought it was a DeLorean. Lorentzen enjoys hearing about the misidentification.

“I added some tape to the top and bottom of the headlights. It gives it a DeLorean look,” Lorentzen said about the car that was built for Halloween.

Lorentzen modified the car after a successfully fun fright on Halloween years ago. He added Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” character Jack Skellington. Skellington holds the reins on top of the car. A rabid teddy bear rides beside Skellington. And sitting inside the back of the car was Lorentzen’s right-hand woman, Angela Stigell, who was spraying the silly string out of the spider.

Lorentzen, proud of his creation, said he was not an official entrant for the parade. But he won anyway. He was that popular.

“I just like crashing parades,” Lorentzen said of the Corolla that “ran over” a radioactive spider.

While the “Spider car” requires a lot of maintenance, so donations are welcome, it doesn’t seem he’d have it any other way.

“It’s definitely a home run with this thing,” Lorentzen said.

Stacia Johnson and her daughter Kinley, almost 2 years-old, were big fans of two of the entrants. One, a fire truck that slowly rolled by and two, the Central Grays Harbor Altrusa International float, which was giving away children’s books.

“It was very sweet,” Johnson said about the book “Stepping Out.”

“We love books,” said Johnson, an Aberdeen resident who owns Sapphire Dust Hat Company in Elma. “It’s better than candy.”

One of the many food vendors — there were elephant ears, kettle corn, coffee, amongst others — was Bay City Sausage Co. The sausage company, with prime-time location at the corner of North Broadway and Market streets, has an address of 2249 state Route 105, in Aberdeen on the way to Westport.

Laura Hackett was one of the people slinging the company’s variety of delicious meats, which were cooked on nearby grills. One of the meats was a “Beer Dog” which is made of beef, pork and bacon. A bit spicy, the sausage — delicious by the way — was made with a little red pepper inside.

“It doesn’t have beer in it,” Hackett said. “But it’s spicy so you’ll want to drink beer with it.”

Tiffany Maki, who sang a soulful rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner,” was all smiles during the parade and after.

“I think it keeps getting better every year,” Maki said. “There were lots of different entries. I miss not having a marching band. A lower classman could put on a marching band.”

Maki was glad Luceman was the emcee for the community-wide event.

“Phil does a great job,” Maki said. “Sound system was better this year, so we could hear more of what he was saying. I liked how Phil asked where everyone was from because it’s not just about Aberdonians.”

This was Maki’s third time singing the difficult anthem. She’s happy to do it again.

“Karen’s asked me to do it,” Maki said. “I’ll do it any time she asks me. It’s an honor to do it.”

While she now lives in Cosmopolis the “Aberdeen girl at heart” loves her hometown, especially what is happening with the music scene here.

“I just love everything going on with the arts and music with the businesses promoting live bands. Today’s a good day to celebrate it.”

New star in Aberdeen

Ryan Dokke, a 2001 graduate of Hoquiam High School, received his induction into Aberdeen’s Walk of Stars. The vice president of promotion and marketing for Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) out of Nashville, was humble as he accepted his star. It’s the 90th star throughout Aberdeen.

Dokke, whose talents have taken him across the country to Charlotte and now Nashville, started his working career at 16. He started bussing tables at Billy’s Bar & Grill — 322 E. Heron St., in Aberdeen.

Through a series of hard work in the radio industry Dokke now works with BMLG, the company that launched the careers of Taylor Swift, Florida Georgia Line, The Band Perry and others, according to Luceman’s speech about his friend. Tim McGraw, Thomas Rhett and Sheryl Crow are also among the stars who BMLG represents.

But it wasn’t all big-time country music stars for Dokke.

Dokke started as an intern with KXRO on May 6, 2000. Since that “first official on-air shift,” Dokke expanded out to 104.7 KDUX-FM and KIX 95.3. Luceman and Dokke both credited Pat Anderson, operations manager at KXRO, for Dokke’s evolution in the radio business. Dokke also thanked Scott Borchetta, founder of BMLG, according to BMLG’s website, and Jimmy Harnen.

In Dokke’s remarks to the small, yet lively crowd outside Billy’s, he thanked his wife and family, as well as Jesus Christ. He said without Jesus none of what he’s accomplished would be possible. He also thanked his wife and four children for their loving support.

Dokke took some time out to talk about growing up on Grays Harbor.

“Well I think first of all, it’s an incredible community,” Dokke said. “The spirit of the people, just lots of friends and family. And I think all great things. I couldn’t be more proud to have grown up here. So many great memories. Some sad ones. Lost my brother in 2002. He would have gotten a kick out of all this. But this is a great day.”

Dokke said there’s “not a chance” his younger self would believe his current self that he’d have the chance to work at the level he is currently in the music industry.

“It’s really been an incredible ride and I’ve been very fortunate to work with a lot of great people, had a lot of great mentors,” Dokke said. “People that have lifted me up and given me opportunities. And that’s the same thing I hope to be able to do for other people, to open doors and opportunities for a whole other generation. Any time I get a letter or an email, or a text, or an Instagram or Facebook message from somebody from the Harbor with a question or just (seeking) advice, it’s always really cool to answer those and try to again open doors and opportunities for people who are from this area to whatever they want to pursue.”

Dokke said people haven’t been shy, which is a good thing because he’s glad to help fellow Harborites.

“I’ve had people call and ask about getting into the radio business,” Dokke said. “I’ve had folks ask about being a recording artist. And it’s cool to answer those messages and go, ‘Yeah. Anything I can do to help, I want to help.’”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Tiffany Maki, who’s now performed the “Star Spangled Banner” three times at Aberdeen Founder’s Day Parade, gives the difficult anthem all she’s got in a soulful performance Saturday in downtown Aberdeen.

Kevin Lorentzen, of Raymond, looks at the happy families who were taking photos of his award-winning “Spider car.” No stranger to winning with his art, Lorentzen described how he makes the most out of the near 40-year-old car in order to get fun and “incredible” reactions out of children and adults alike. (Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World)

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Phil Luceman, emcee for the 10th anniversary of Aberdeen Founder’s Day Parade, shares a laugh with Karen Rowe. Rowe, with her husband Ryan and Tawni Andrews, takes point in getting the parade going, as they do every year in July.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Ryan Dokke, a 2001 Hoquiam High School graduate, gets inducted into Aberdeen’s Walk of Stars on Saturday afternoon. Dokke, who was humble in his speech as he thanked his wife, family, people who helped him throughout his career, as well as Jesus Christ, worked his way from bussing tables as a teenager at Billy’s. An internship at KXRO launched his career, which has seen him travel across the county and land at Big Machine Label Group, in Nashville. Dokke wants to do “anything,” to help fellow Harborites reach their dreams. One of his young daughters celebrates her dad’s induction with a big hug.