An American family, an American holiday
An American family, an American holiday
By SCOTT SWANSON, Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — For 66 years, the Korpi, Miljour and Larson families have huddled together on the Fourth of July to celebrate the birth of their country, eat and drink well and take comfort in each other following their personal tragedies.
Today marks the families’ 67th consecutive get-together, and no one expects them to end here.
“This is where you get support — from your family,” said 78-year-old Margaret Larson, who was 12 at the families’ first celebration in 1940. “And I have to say that we have one of the best.”
Larson, as well as three others who attended the very first Korpi-Larson-Miljour Fourth of July in 1940 — 88-year-old George Miljour, 76-year-old Helen Miljour and 67-year-old Virginia Paulson — gathered Monday to reminisce about Fourth of Julys past.
These days, the families pack into the Miljour camp at Pike Lake, which George Miljour purchased in 1947. But the first event was held at the tourist park in Gwinn.
“My mother, Virginia’s mother and the Korpis organized a lunch,” Larson said of the first get-together, attended by 36 family members. “It was always, ‘You bring this, you bring that.’ Now we just bring pot luck — everyone brings what they’re best at (cooking).”
These days, there are typically around 200 attendees. The eats are spread out over a 24-foot-long table consisting of two sheets of plywood. Constants include watermelon and ice cream.
In addition to swimming, horseshoe-playing and beer-drinking, recent additions to the festivities include a golf outing and a silent auction, in which everyone brings an item to auction off and tickets are only 25 cents.
Remarkably, the families have never cancelled or rescheduled the celebration — it’s been held on the Fourth of July since 1940. George Miljour has never missed the picnic, while Larson has only missed one — and that’s only because she had a baby the day before.
“It gives us an opportunity for the family to see everybody grow,” Paulson said. “We would not know each other if we didn’t have this. All of a sudden you look around and say, ‘Who’s that?’”
This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Paulson’s husband, Ken, who died on July 1, 1996. The picnic was held first, and the funeral was held after, she said.
“Everyone was asking me, ‘Are you going to go to the picnic?’” Paulson said. “I said, ‘Of course I’m going to the picnic.’ That’s where you want to be at times like that. Why wouldn’t I go?”
Paulson said the picnic is typically a time for her to reflect on family members who had passed away in the previous year.
“I always think about that, when you go back to that first picnic after somebody’s gone,” she said.
Added Larson, “You miss them.”
Five generations are now represented at the Korpi-Larson-Miljour Fourth of July picnics. Larson said she hopes the younger generations will keep the tradition going strong.
“Nobody stays home — we all go,” she said. “We’re a big family. I don’t know how anyone else feels, but I just like everybody.”
Previous page: Grandpa and granddaughter to march together
Next page: FBI joins investigation of cliff fall death