Hallie McGuire, the activity director at Grandview Care Center in Dayton, put about 80 hours into theirs.

“I’ve been building for about two weeks,” McGuire said.

There was no formal plan.

“I had it all in my head,” she said. “Now that’s it’s done, it looks amazing, it looks so good.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Kiley Wastun, of Lehigh, tosses a frozen treat from the Grandview Care Center’s float Friday morning during the Gowrie Fourth of July parade. There’s about 80 hours of work in the handmade float decorations.

Her fellow employees helped do the final assembly, but all the detailed work to make the stuff to assemble was hers.

To watch a parade in comfort, it helps to find a spot along the route where you can park a pickup truck, flip down the tailgate, then sit comfortably on a couple of blankets under a shade umbrella.

Kathi Moter, of Harcourt, and her daughter Candice Farnham, of Minneapolis, did just that.

For Farnham, it was a bit of a homecoming.

“This is my hometown, my mom was born and raised here,” Farnham said. “This is THE Fourth.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Kathi Moter, of Harcourt, left, and her daughter Candice Farnham, of Minneapolis, watch the annual Gowrie Fourth of July parade Friday morning. The giant display of flags grows each year.

After the parade, there would be plenty of other things. Like the Cow Pie Bingo.

“I’m going to go look at that,” she said.

Maybe some fireworks.

“We are going to the farm to that later,” she said.

“Millie,” a 7-year-old Hereford cow that’s part of Spencer Suchan’s 15-head herd near Gowrie, was the star of the annual Cow Pie Bingo. She didn’t seem to mind an audience as she walked around her paddock but then again, she wasn’t in any hurry either to deliver that “pie” to one of the squares in the grass.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Jay Anderson, who said he's just a Santa from the North Pole, tosses candy Friday morning from the Gowrie Development Commission's Christmas in July float at the annual Gowrie Fourth of July parade.

“It’s pretty funny,” Suchan said. “Watching and waiting for a cow to plop one. But you can win money, so why not.”

Millie is a veteran bingo, well, caller.

“Last year it was 30 to 40 minutes,” he said. “It’s been a lot longer in the past. She loves people, she was a show cow.”

Is there anything that anyone can do to “hasten” the process?

The short answer is “No.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
The three kings of parade candy, brothers Greyson Carlson, 7, at left, Kaiden Carlson, 5, and Maxton Carlson, 9, of Cedar Falls, stand ready to meet the next float Friday morning at the annual Gowrie Fourth of July parade. The crowns were being handed out from another float.

“I’ve tried feeding for it,” he said. “Didn’t work.”

If she wasn’t brought in to be the star of the Cow Pie Bingo game, Millie would have other plans.

“She’d be out in the pasture,” Suchan said. “She has a calf at her side.”

Darrel Cline and his brother Bart Cline, both of Callender, were attending the car show. Bringing a custom-made Coca-Cola bench with them is a tradition.

“We always enjoy the parade then come see the cars. The food is alway good too,” Bart Cline said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Darrel Cline, at left, and his brother Bart Cline, both of Callender, unload their custom Coca-Cola bench at the annual Gowrie Fourth of July celebration car show.

They were not going to purchase a Cow Pie Bingo ticket.

“I don’t know what to think of that,” Bart Cline said. “I hope they feed it good.”

The day’s festivities also included a chance to get soaked at the Gowrie Fire Department-hosted water fights.

Cornell Lowery, 17, of Gowrie, had signed up with a group of friends. Each team uses a fire hose to try to move a barrel suspended from a cable into the opposite team’s end zone.

“We came in second last year,” Lowery said. “I wanted to come back and win it.”

At the end of their three-minute heat, they lost when the hose got tangled.

“We had them down for the longest time,” he said. “I swear though at the end the water pressure gave out.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
“Millie” the cow, of Gowrie, enjoys some scratches Friday afternoon while being watched closely during the Cow Pie Bingo at the annual Gowrie Fourth of July celebration.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Spencer Suchan, of Gowrie, introduced “Millie” to the "bingo” board Friday afternoon at the Gowrie Fourth of July celebration. It was her job to leave a “deposit” that would designate the winner of the Cow Pie Bingo game.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
A group patiently waits and watches Friday afternoon at the Cowpie Bingo game during the annual Gowrie Fourth of July Celebration.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Cornell Lowery, 17, of Gowrie, works on trying to get the barrel into the other teams zone Friday afternoon during the Gowrie Fire Department hosted water fights at the Gowrie Fourth of July celebration.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Dayton Firefighter Noah Nafe mans the nozzle as Dayton Fire Chief Luke Hainzinger supports him at right during the Gowrie Fire Department-hosted water fights at the annual Gowrie Fourth of July Celebration Friday. Dayton Firefighter Cameron McGuire was the third member of the team.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Dayton Firefighter Noah Nafe mans the nozzle as Dayton Fire Chief Luke Hainzinger supports him at right during the Gowrie Fire Department hosted water fights at the annual Gowrie Fourth of July Celebration Friday. Fellow Dayton Firefighter Cameron McGuire is at left.