This weekend’s Railroad Days festivities in Staples will kick off with a very special program Thursday at the Staples Fire Hall that will include the naming of the Grand Marshal for the 2010 Railroad Days Parade on Saturday.

The parade grand marshals, according to Staples and Motley Area Chamber of Commerce president Lee Jenkins, will be all the members of the Staples Volunteer Fire Department and the members of the Staples Ambulance Service. Also being named as honorary grand marshal will be Ed Uebinger, a truck driver from Michigan who was rescued by the fire and ambulance personnel following a July, 2008, accident near Staples.

Thursday night, in an awards ceremony at the fire hall starting at 6:30 p.m. Uebinger and Mayor Chris Etzler will present both departments with life saving awards. The public is invited to attend.

“It will be great to have the chance to honor the people who saved my life,” Ed Uebinger said this week from his home in Michigan. He and his son will be in Staples this weekend.

On July 1, 2008, the SVFD and ambulance personnel extricated Uebinger from the wreckage of his truck after almost a three-hour struggle. He was trapped in the overturned and crushed cab of his 18-wheeler, his load of building materials scattered in the ditch behind him.

Ambulance service EMTs crawled into the confined space to reachUebinger and start IV’s while firemen cut away parts of the cab. Only after a large backhoe was brought in from a nearby excavating company were the emergency responders able to lift up the truck and get in to free Uebinger. He suffered multiple broken bones including a broken pelvis and many other injuries. He is still recovering and has had multiple operations.

Uebinger was unconscious and was flown from the scene directly to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Except for Fire Chief Scott Braith and one or two other firemen, none of the rescue personnel have ever met Uebinger or his son, Justin.

The program Thursday night will provide an opportunity for Uebinger and his rescuers to meet. Those involved in his rescue will get to meet him for the first time and know what they accomplished that hot day in July two years ago.

The plan is to have Fire Chief Braith and Ambulance Service Director Mike Goff ride in the parade on Saturday afternoon representing their two services. Also riding on the fire department’s antique LaSalle ladder truck will be honorary grand marshal Ed Uebinger.

T

his year’s Railroad

Days parade, which had close to 75 entries earlier this week, will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, starting near 3M on 5th St NE.

For parade line up and a parade number the information booth will be at the corner of 6th St NE and Michigan Ave. Units can check in there to get a parade number and to be directed to a spot in the parade.

The parade will travel south on 5th St. NE, then turn west for one block on Third Avenue and then north on 4th St. NE in front of Sacred Heart Church. The parade will proceed north on 4th St NE past the Community Center, where announcers Chris Etzler and Melissa Daniels will announce each entry and where the parade judges will be located. The parade will disperse on 4th St. NE near the Staples Elementary School and Trinity Lutheran Church.