McCloud Lumberjack Fiesta 78th Grand Marshall is the McCloud Minion

The children of McCloud know.

Every year for the past 15 years, the McCloud Minion shows up at McCloud’s Halloween’s Trunk and Treat to give away candy. But let’s explain this McCloud Minion’s history to understand why he was picked to be this year’s Grand Marshall:

He came with his wife and 2 children in 1972 and bought the Building Supply store which was on Main Street. He built the new store in 1979 on the corner of East Minnesota and Broadway which is now called Black Fox but prior to those days, the Lumberjack/Fiesta was held in an empty lot at that location and consisted of many games like the goldfish toss, and tug of war, an elephant train which was a couple cars pulled by a tractor, a parade, and a profession lumberjack competition along with the amatures like we have now before it was all moved to Hoo Hoo park and since, vendors and many other activities have been added through the years. 

There were many community services that this minion has done through the years living in McCloud: 

He became the McCloud Chamber President and held that position for about 15 years. Originally, the McCloud Annual Flea Market was sponsored by the Railroad and called the “The Attic” because people would clean out their attics and sell what they had stored there through the years. As Chamber President, he changed all this to make it what it is today.

Years ago, he worked at “Call Santa” where McCloud Children called two weeks prior to Christmas on Santa’s ‘call line’ to tell what they wanted that Christmas from Santa (this no longer exists). He hosted the Pinewood Derby where he helped the Boy Scouts build and race cars made out of pinewood by the Scout Hall. He helped sponsor and helped work with the annual golf tournament for the Shasta Cascade Health Center in McCloud. As a licensed contractor, he has also helped many local people with home repairs.

Now, you are probably wondering how this guy became known as the McCloud Minion. Well, about 8 to 10 years ago, he was searching for gold on the Sacramento river and found these perfectly shaped rocks for him to cut in half and make into little minions. No two are the same.This was when the first Minion movie came out. Originally, he left a minion rock at every business in McCloud. He puts “ICU” on many of them and kids get it. He also puts GL for ‘good luck’ and the year on the bottom. He likes to put the child’s name on the rock so they will keep it and not give it away. He cannot say how many he has made over the years. He has only about 200 left that he will be handing out this year to children ages 8 years and younger at the McCloud Lumberjack Fiesta. 

The McCloud Minion wants everyone to know that Mrs Minion is his right hand and is always there to help. “Through all our 63 years of marriage, she is always right and never wrong.” 

Oh, by the way, the McCloud Minion is Bob Wieder.

This year’s McCloud Lumberjack Fiesta starts Friday night on July 25th and the parade on Main Street begins at 11 am. For more details of all the events during the Lumberjack Fiesta weekend, find them on Facebook.

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