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SUNNY Temp: 66 °F Wind: NNW at 4 mph Monday, July 14, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend July 4, 2003 Paul Young touches up the �American Belle,� Fidelity Print Quick�s entry for this year�s Independence Day parade in Central Point. Featuring a Mardi Gras theme, it will be Print Quick�s 10th and final float. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Reign ends on this parade Perennial prize-winning Central Point company’s final float provides a festival finale By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — After a decade’s worth of award-winning floats in the annual Fourth of July parade, Fidelity Print Quick plans its grand finale today: a Mardi Gras-themed riverboat complete with Dixieland jazz, dancing teens and plenty of beads. For the past nine years, Print Quick floats have taken First Place in the commercial division as well as numerous other ribbons, including Best in Show and Mayor’s Choice. Print Quick owners Jan and Rick Bettenburg say they first joined the parade as a way to get family and friends together and to support the city. But after 10 years — and what they hope will be one final win — the couple have decided to enjoy future parades from the sidelines. Advertisement "All good things must come to an end," said Jan Bettenburg. "But we’ve definitely saved the best for last. We promise our 10th and final float to be the best ever. After this year, we’ll still be around to support everyone else but from the sidelines. "Besides, we’re going to give people another chance to win for a change," she added with a laugh. Through the years, the Bettenburgs have watched the city, the Independence Day parade and their daughters, Alicia and Angela, grow by leaps and bounds. Their 1994 float, "Rolling Down the Rogue," featured a giant raft filled with children too young to march in the parade but who now have become young adults. "Ten years later, the kids have grown up but I’m not sure we have," Bettenburg said. Floats by Print Quick have included the 1998 "Rick Clark’s Print Stand," featuring kids on roller skates serving bubble gum on trays; the 2001 "Space Printers"; and, in 1996 and back in 2000 due to popular demand, the pre-historic "Printstones." A family friend, Laura Hall of Southern California, traveled to Central Point this week for the final showdown. "When Jan told me this was going to be the last year and that it would be a Mardi Gras theme, I just knew I had to come," said Hall. "It’s just so all-American, especially this year. Mardi Gras and New Orleans is a tradition, Central Point is a great little town and these guys do such a great job." Paul Young of Central Point, a commercial editor for KDRV and Print Quick’s "secret weapon," said it’s been bittersweet to design his 10th and final float but that this year’s would certainly give years past "a run for the money." Young said it’ll seem strange not having a float to work on for several weeks each year. "It will definitely leave a big void this time of year," he said. "But I guess my wife would say she’s going to have her husband back. I think we’re all kind of winding down. "I have to go along with the crowd and say this year is going to be it, but that’s not to say that, down the road, we won’t all be rolling along in our wheelchairs and decide to do it again." Today’s events u Central Point’s Fourth of July celebrations will kick off with the annual Fire District 3 Pancake Breakfast from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. at Crater High, followed by a flyover by two F-15 Eagle jets from the Oregon Air National Guard at 10:15 a.m. The parade will travel down Second Avenue and Pine Street to Pfaff Park (behind the post office), where booths will be set up for crafts, games and food from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. u Medford’s Red, White & Boom fireworks show will affect traffic around Miles Field tonight. No parking will be allowed on Center Drive, which will close to through traffic at 9:15 p.m., officials said. The right lane of northbound Highway 99 will be closed between Belknap Road and Stewart Avenue and will only be available to drivers exiting the Miles Field parking lot. East Stewart Avenue will be closed at Highway 99 and traffic won’t be permitted to turn right onto East Stewart. Traffic exiting Belknap Road after the event must turn left on Highway 99 or cross the highway and continue west on Garfield. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times