Madison Park Days keeps its traditions

The times, they are a changing, but Madison Park Days has kept its traditions much the same in the nearly four decades since its start.

“When it first started, first we had an auction where everybody brought food and we auctioned it off,” said Lola McKee, and later a clown and children’s parade was added down East Madison Street.

McKee owned Madison Park Hardware for 58 years, selling the business in 2011.

The 93-year-old Madison Park resident volunteered setting up Madison Park Days for years, until she started having trouble walking.

“It kind of increased as we went along in years, but it was many, many years,” McKee said — 37 by her count.

The Madison Park Business Association has long supported the event, McKee said, providing food, jugglers and clowns.

“It was a different era,” McKee said. “All the people, it was like a big neighborhood party. They also had the Shore Run later on.”

The Shore Run benefit for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was cancelled this year, ending a 40-year tradition.

This year’s Madison Park Days will take place Saturday, July 14.

The MPBA will be providing pizza for the event, and The Attic is donating hot dogs this year, said Michelle Croom with Denali Fitness, who is heading the organizing for the Madison Park Business Association.

There will be field games in Madison Park, the traditional clowning and the children’s parade, which usually lasts about 10 minutes, Croom said. Lineup for the parade starts at 11:45 a.m. at Wells Fargo, 4009 E. Madison St., and takes off at noon.

“It’s cute, it’s always little kids,” Croom said. “It’s a good mix of all the people in the community.”