Submitted by the San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce
In keeping with the theme “America…All That We Share,” the grand marshal for the 2017 Independence Day Parade in Friday Harbor will be Carolyn Haugen, a writer, educator, art enthusiast, community activist, and volunteer. The 2017 Citizens of Honor will be Dr. John Geyman and Emily Reed Geyman.
Grand Marshal Carolyn Haugen holds an Ed.D. from the University of Southern California and after moving to San Juan Island was the superintendent and Principal of the Shaw Island School District and the principal at Friday Harbor Elementary. Haugen’s has served as the president and board member for the San Juan Community Theatre; member of CATS, the theater’s fundraising organization; president and board member for the Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor; board secretary and treasurer for PADs for Parkinson’s; board member and vice president of the San Juan Preservation Trust; member of the Mt. Grant Steering Committee; and trustee for the San Juan Island Yacht Club, the Friday Harbor Power Squadron and the San Juan Nature Institute. Carolyn has shared so much of her time and talent with San Juan County.
As a special parade tribute, the 2017 Citizens of Honor, John Geyman and Emily Reed Geyman, were chosen for their outstanding community contributions. John was the former chairman of the department of family medicine and is currently professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Washington. He was a physician at the Interisland Medical Center from 1990 to 1997 and served on the county hospital district and board of health. A pilot and prodigious author, John has written 18 books and published more than 160 articles in his illustrious career.
Emily Geyman is a writer herself, having published “Emily’s Guide and Maps to the San Juan Islands” and wrote dozens of articles for the Islands Weekly between 1998 and 2005. Emily has served on the San Juan County Arts Council and San Juan Islands Museum of Art. She was a counselor at Friday Harbor High School for 18 years and is a current member of Soroptimists and the League of Women Voters.
The parade which will start at 10:30 a.m. on July Fourth on Spring Street and runs through downtown Friday Harbor.
For additional information about participating in the 2017 Friday Harbor Independence Day Parade, email parade@sanjuanisland.org or call Traci Wilson, parade coordinator at 298-7760 or 206-595-5104.
