Election year or not, politicians have traditionally seemed to find Ely on their calendar when it comes to Fourth of July parades.
It hasn’t been uncommon to see candidates for any of an assortment of offices, from county board to state legislative seats, or even those running for statewide office or positions in Congress, in the Ely parade.
Parade-goers in recent years have seen the likes of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan and former U.S. Sen. Al Franken shaking hands along the route.
So this, in the mother of all election years, figured to be a politics-lover’s delight.
After all, in Gilbert, at its July 3 parade, there were no less than 16 candidates for state office in the parade, including two of the three DFL candidates for governor, with the third (Lori Swanson) represented by Nolan, her lieutenant governor running mate.