LINTON, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — 2023 marks 117 years of the Linton Freedom Festival Parade.
Organizers said the parade draws nearly 40,000 people to Linton each year.
This year’s theme was ‘Winning Spirit in Indiana.’
The Freedom Festival is put on by a small task force. The task force members dedicate over 150 hours a year to planning and fundraising. This year, the task force presented a special designation to the Linton-Stockton student-athletes, including the girls’ volleyball team.
“It’s a huge honor, “Scott Vanderkolk, Linton Volleyball Head Coach said. “This city loves sports. And to have that victory theme for the parade and to have us as ambassadors along with the basketball team and Payton and Sophie and Becca from track and Cross Country, that kind of sets the standard for all these little kids that are going to be lining the streets today and you know, they get to look up to these girls and the boys on the basketball team and that’s special for them and special for the kids, it’s just a big honor.”
That honor comes as several Linton teams and individual athletes made their way to the state finals, making a significant impact on the community.
“Our girls have put in a lot of time and effort in. In the weight room, in classroom, and then in the gym obviously and to make that state run was a lot of fun,” Vanderkolk said. “Not a lot of teams get to do that, and to have that first one in school history to do that is just really special.”
Have you seen the movie, Hoosiers? Talk about a winning spirit in Indiana! New to the parade this year was a 1939 Chevy bus painted a bright cherry red, owned by Darryll Baker.
“It is the actual team bus from the movie Hoosiers,” Baker said. “It has been in my family for 74 years.”
The state runner-up, the Linton Miners boys basketball team would make their way through the parade route in the famous original 1939 Chevy bus that once transported the Hickory Huskers, in the movie, Hoosiers. The Huskers were loosely based on the Milan High School from Indiana.
“I had talked to Cheryl Hamilton here from Linton Last year and she goes, ‘We would love to have that down there. We have the biggest, best, July 4th parade in the country here in Linton, or at least the state,’ I think she was saying,” Baker said.
Baker was excited to bring his famous bus to Linton.
“This has been a labor of love for my family and certainly for me, and I’m thrilled to be back in Indiana,” Baker said. “I was gone for about 40 years. Thrilled to be back here and able to share this with everybody.”
