STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The smart thing to do would have been to take a sack to the Bellevue Labor Day Parade and stock up on candy for Halloween.

As usual, Idaho’s only charter city kept the companies that make Twizzlers and Tootsie Rolls in business as float riders threw out so much candy that kids eventually stopped running out to get it.

The Bellevue Bears got an A grade in candy throwing as they pelted bystanders with a hailstorm of Dots and other candies, even after their teachers told them to slow down.

The Jurassic Park jeep rolled down the streets complete with a contingent of dinosaurs alongside.

One little boy, meanwhile, seemed to be more thoughtful about the candy skipping across Main Street. He examined the piece of candy in his hand, then traded it for another lying on the street.

It’s safe to say every youngster—and many adults—ended up with a hundred pieces of candy to match a hundred years of Bellevue Labor Day Celebrations.

The parade led off with the Military Color Guard from Mountain Home Air Force Base, which had come to town to lay a wreath at the World War II memorial at Main and Cedar streets to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Shaun and Stefany Mahoney, who have spent 20 years working behind the scenes of the Labor Day Celebration, waved to the crowd lining the street—this time in the role of Grand Marshals. Shaun has owned and operated Mahoney’s Bar & Grill with his brothers Matt and Tim on the site of the former Sam’s Club, a well-loved drinking establishment in Bellevue.

Members of the Blaine County Historical Museum’s Heritage Court rode in their fourth and final parade of the summer. They were also honored by the Blaine County Museum with a coronation ceremony and by The Community Library with a tea.

He also has served on the City Council off and on for 20 years, attending many meetings via Zoom after he had a stroke in November 2023. Stefany worked for the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber of Commerce for 15 years and recently was appointed to the City of Bellevue’s Event Committee.

Not too far behind were David and Charles McClure dressed like members of M*A*S*H in a 1945 Korean War-era jeep decorated with a rifle and helmet.

“My wife, who served in the Army, and son are ahead,” said Charles. “We just wanted to remind people that there are still military families out there. People don’t enlist during a conflict, then go home when it ends in a year. They don’t disappear—they’re there.”

Kim McClure, meanwhile was driving her red Jurassic Park jeep, surrounded by four youngsters prancing around in dinosaur outfits.

David and Charles McClure represented M*A*S*H—and military families everywhere.

“It’s just a fun thing to do,” she said.

A large contingent of children walked in the parade wearing T-shirts with a portrait of JP Salinas, a Bellevue Elementary student who died last summer after a car struck him as he was playing while his mother worked in an Elkhorn yard.

“Please drive carefully,” the T-shirts reminded spectators.

The Bellevue Museum was represented by a 1936 Ford. And Mike Foster was not far behind driving a 1930 Model A Ford Pickup he had restored over the years.

Blaine County Republicans trotted out a float celebrating 250 years of American democracy.

“It’s like a hundred-year-old truck. It’s fun to drive because everyone gives you a thumbs up,” he said. “I found it in Las Vegas where it was being used as a planter box. It’s a little tight, especially if you wear a few extra pounds. But my daughter wanted to throw candy so I said, ‘Alright, we’ll put it in the parade.’ ”

When the parade was over spectators walked past a yard filled with wooden pallets painted to resemble the American flag to the Bellevue Memorial Park where Spike Coggins was wailing about Idaho and Kim Stocking was singing about going to Kansas City.

The City of Bellevue handed scavenger hunt clues as a unique way to get people thinking about its comprehensive plan. One clue asked how many lanes of bowling were in the old Odd Fellows basement; another, how much it would cost to repave a lumpy bumpy street on the town’s north side.

The walk with a purpose, as city representative called it, came with a free taco, ice cream or coffee for those who get the right answers.

Blaine County Republicans, meanwhile, collected signatures for a petition asking the legislature to revoke Idaho’s grocery tax (Idaho, it seems, is one of only four states in the nation that charges tax on groceries).

And Mike Mattias took portraits of people standing inside a Wild West “Wanted” poster for for two bits of silver--two quarters, two dimes or two quarters—all of which was to go to the Bellevue Historical Museum.

Mattias wore a T-shirt which proclaimed Bellevue as “A silver city with a golden heart—Idaho’s only chartered city.”

“Would you believe I got this 25 years ago at Glenns Groceries when Bellevue was half the size it is now?” he said. “And it’s still Idaho’s only chartered city—a silver city with a golden heart.”