Island City to host 2026 Ag & Timber Parade May 15

Dennis and Karen Fenn, the owners of Fenn’s Towing and Repair, led Island City’s 2026 Ag & Timber Parade as grand marshals, putting two familiar Union County names at the front of a tradition built around the industries that still shape the local economy. The Union County Farm Bureau chose the Fenns for decades of service, including 24/7 towing and recovery work across Cabbage Hill, Ladd Canyon and Union County backroads, along with support for youth sports, local events and La Grande High School’s manufacturing program.

The parade’s draw remained its scale. Historical coverage has put the event at 75 to 100 entries most years, with logging trucks, agricultural machinery, graders, four-wheelers and other big equipment filling the route in what has been described as the biggest parade in Union County. It typically ran about 45 minutes, and organizers have said most entries came from Union County, with some traveling from Baker County and Wallowa County.

Lineup began at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 15, on S. D Street, and the parade started at 6 p.m. The city said staging was on S. D Street, with the route traveling north to Island Avenue, east to McAlister Road and then south. Earlier route information also placed the parade near West First Street and D Street before it turned onto South McAlister Road and Buchanan Lane. Drivers and neighbors along those streets faced the evening’s heaviest traffic and the most limited access as equipment lined up and moved out.

Awards added a competitive edge to the annual showcase. A 2026 event listing included prizes for Best Agriculture, Best Timber and Grand Marshal’s Choice, with registration available through a QR code or by email at agtimberparade@gmail.com. The Union County Farm Bureau presented the parade, reinforcing its role as a public celebration of farming and forestry rather than just a procession of machinery.

The event’s history ran deep in Union County. It began in the early 1970s as a twilight parade in downtown La Grande, shifted because the equipment kept getting bigger, and has been held in Island City since 2013. Oregon Women in Timber took over the parade in 1998. The parade was canceled only once in its first five decades, in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, organizers warned it might not continue after that year because of a shortage of volunteers, a reminder that one of the county’s most visible traditions still depended on local hands to keep it moving.