Best Tractor - Harold Kibler The annual Independence Day Parade held in Delphi and sponsored by the Delphi Lions Club was a rousing success Saturday. Fifty-one floats, tractors and participants, which included the Delphi Community High School Marching Band, traveled the parade route in front of a large crowd of spectators.

Lion Bob Conner and Lois Powlen got the ball rolling by serenading the crowd with patriotic tunes and tidbits of Independence Day trivia. As the color guard presented to the crowd, the Carroll County Community Band played the National Anthem, to which spectators were invited to sing along. The American Legion presented arms and a gun salute after which the parade began.

Harold Kibler of Monticello showed his John Deer tractor and was awarded Best Tractor. Kibler said he participates in the parade every year and this was the third time his tractor has been given honors.

Delphi United Methodist Church won Best Float which carried 24 youth who were blowing bubbles from a "Power Lab," which is the theme of the church's Vacation Bible School this year. According to float coordinator Lisa Rush, the church does a float every year for the parade and this float will become the main stage for Bible School to be held July 21-24.

Best Float - United Methodist Church Former Delphi Tri-Township Volunteer Fire Chief Bill Schock's entry of a 1926 Ford Model T Fire Truck won the Best Truck award. For the past three years Schock has been restoring the truck, which was first owned by the Indiana Soldiers Home (now the Indiana Veterans Home in West Lafayette) in 1926. Schock said ladders for the truck came from Rockfield and Camden and the wood used for the running boards came from Camp Tecumseh. Schock explained that the truck has no brakes on the front wheels, however given that the truck only travels at a slow speed, the lack of braking ability was never an issue.

Cheryl Peterson and her horse Rebel won the award for Best Animal. Rebel, a 20-yearold Morgan, was raised from birth on the Peterson farm in Montmorenci. He has appeared in the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500 parades and also pulls a cart. Peterson said she and Rebel participate in the Delphi parade sporadically but have been given awards on three different occasions by parade organizers.

Best Truck - Bill Schock