Fish House Parade Time Here Again

Thanksgiving is a great time to plan a family gathering! Come to the bustling little town of Aitkin, Minnesota (pop. 2,003) to attend the World Famous Fish House! Aitkin is only a comfortable two-hour drive north of Minneapolis-St. Paul in northeastern Minnesota.

The Fish House Parade happens the day after Thanksgiving. It causes imaginations to run wild and is enjoyed by thousands of enthusiastic parade goers!

Fish houses and floats are decorated in various themes ranging from Grumpy Old Women to the movie Jaws, complete with a shark swimming around a wobbling fish house, or anything else the creative parade entrants can dream up.

The day begins as you check out the deals while you shop-all the stores are open early at 7 a.m! Then go for a pancake breakfast and an Arts & Crafts Fair at the Westside Church building from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can get lunch there too or you can go to the Methodist Church at noon, where they are serving lasagna, or walk over to the American Legion for The Kinship Soup & Chili Cook-off. Be sure to be downtown precisely at noon for the Fish House Five-K (almost), where 3-person teams will run a relay in full Minnesota winter gear, just for the fun of it and a trophy fish! The parade kicks off at 1 p.m. There is more food on the street, shopping, (with discounts), and Santa! Immediately after the parade, join us for the Awards Ceremony for entry winners-examples include Overwhelmingly Noisiest or Outlandishly Humorous, judged by folks that have never seen our parade before. The day winds down with great music, and of course Fish Stew for supper at 5 p.m. The entire family will love this event! Please come and join us for a few laughs!

A parade of this caliber only comes around once a year. The Aitkin 19th Annual World-Famous Fish House takes place annually on the Friday following Thanksgiving Day at 1 p.m. on the main street of Minnesota Ave, downtown Aitkin. For information contact the Aitkin Area Chamber of Commerce 800-526-8342.