Dubois Cheers As 24 Vintage Military Tanks Rumble Through On The Fourth Of July

DUBOIS — Standing on a less-crowded side street in Dubois for its annual Fourth of July parade was a man who gave his name only as Ryan. 

He was keeping a close eye on a nervous white Goffin cockatoo named Alice sheltering beneath his cowboy hat.

A rescue bird, Alice attracted a lot of attention from passersby in Dubois. She herself, though, was only just starting to get comfortable with being out in public among random people and pets. 

Strollers in particular had been ruffling her feathers, enough that Ryan was certain he’d probably take the bird home before the parade began. 

Surely the tooting horns and sirens would be too much for her. Not to mention the rumbling military tanks which are a core part of the Dubois parade and can cause the ground to shake as they roll by. 

Turns out even rescue birds named Alice happen to like military tanks on the Fourth of July. 

Alice kept her cool and got to stay for the entire parade, tanks included. 

The tanks and military vehicles come from the National Museum of Military Vehicles, which makes its home just outside town and gives the tiny Wyoming community a spectacle that few in America can match. 

This year, no fewer than 24 military tanks were sent rolling down Rams Horn Street for the parade, down from last year’s 30. 

The parade had to be shortened, Cowboy State Daily was told, so that Highway 26 traffic into and out of Dubois wouldn’t be stopped for quite as long. 

Dubois also put together small gift bags with snacks to pass out to each stopped motorist, explaining what’s going on, as well as thanking them for their patience.

Big Day For Dubois Tourism

Alice’s eyes were getting a little droopy after the parade. Nap time was nearing for the bird, after what was a tremendously big day. 

But it wasn’t just a big day for Alice. 

Dubois has become the Fourth of July of choice for thousands of people who have found out about the tanks, and who love the hospitality of this Mountain West town. 

While Dubois has a population just under 1,000, according to the 2020 census, that more than triples for the Fourth of July. 

Dubois Chamber of Commerce Director Suzanne Osegueda told Cowboy State Daily the town is proud it’s able to offer such a unique parade, thanks to the National Museum of Military Vehicles.

“I think we are the one and only town that has this many tanks in its parade,” she said. “And it’s one of the things we like to pride ourselves here in Dubois. 

“And when we have people calling, wanting information about the National Museum of Military Vehicles, I am the first one to tell them that I have been to all the Smithsonian Institutes, and this museum that we have in little Dubois puts any of those Smithsonians to shame.”

People call weeks in advance to verify the parade will have its tanks, and Osegueda said almost all of Dubois’ hotels and motels were booked weeks in advance this year.

“The parade is so fun for everyone,” Osegueda said. “The best thing is we get to show (the tanks) off to (so) many generations. What a thrill to be able to teach our youngest generations what happened and why we are free and why we are independent. It’s because of the people who drove those tanks.”

This year was a test run for an expanded Fourth of July weekend, Osegueda added.

“Last year was the first year we had the street dance,” she said. “And we had that street dance last night, and we tripled the crowd of people who came to it.”

This year, they added a pancake breakfast, as well as an entire day of activities with kids’ games, duck races, an ice cream social and a new activity, called Touch a Tank.

“Kids, family members, veterans — whoever wanted to — could come touch a tank and look at them,” Osegueda said. “And I noticed they were even giving some rides with the tank, too.”

Tanks That Shoot Candy

All of the military vehicles and tanks are fully functional and period correct. But the only thing shooting out of them for the Fourth of July are showers of candy. 

Those are thrown by volunteers at excited children, many of whom dressed up for the occasion in red, white and blue. 

Parents watched the acrobatics of their smiling and laughing children as they chased down every morsel of sugar. And the adults couldn’t help but get big smiles of their own, in spite of themselves. 

“We came to Dubois to celebrate our wonderful country with our favorite people,” Lainey Stromme told Cowboy State Daily, holding her daughter Lainey in her lap just before the parade started.

Celebrating the Fourth, for her, is about focusing on family, as well as instilling American values and an appreciation for the country’s history in the generation to come. 

The tanks make a particularly fun way to do that, she acknowledged. And they are something her son, Luke, was particularly excited to see. 

“Tanks AND the fire trucks,” Luke added, clearly excited for the spectacle to come.

Freedom and hanging out with family were the two things on Jami Dow’s mind as she waited for the parade to begin. She was holding her baby granddaughter Kaisley Dow up, introducing her to a white dog named Maverick. 

The children of the family had all voted for Dubois as where they wanted to spend their Fourth of July, she added. 

What kid wouldn’t? What with a pancake breakfast to start the day out, kid games, duck races and the chance to touch a tank, what’s not to love?

Pick Your Favorite Tank

Everyone who has watched the Dubois parade has a favorite tank. For Osegueda, it’s the yellow so-called “tiger tank.”

“I love cats, and that one is big,” she said. “It’s just, I mean, I can’t imagine being somewhere and seeing that coming down here road and thinking, ‘Holy cow, my life’s going to flash before my eyes.’”

Tiger tanks were used during the Korean War, and their paint job wasn’t just to look cool. It was an attempt to play into superstitions that Korean people had about what they considered powerful symbols. 

Having so many kinds of tanks in the parade is a way to tell America’s story in an eye-catching way, one that resonates with people on a day that celebrates freedom, National Museum of Military Vechicle’s owner Dan Starks, has told Cowboy State Daily in previous interviews about the military parade.

“That lets us span different wars,” Starks said in 2024. “So, we have World War II vehicles, Korean War vehicles, Gulf War vehicles, Vietnam War vehicles, global War on Terror. That way we can connect with a lot of different generations of veterans, with something that was part of their military service.”

The tanks get staged in town at Stark’s restoration shop before the parade, and the public is generally invited to come check them out before the parade. He sees that as just another opportunity to connect people with their history in a meaningful way.

Patriotism Never Goes Out Of Style

Starks has been told that the Chamber of Commerce takes many calls ahead of the Fourth of July, asking if the tanks will be in the parade. 

He knows it’s become an important tradition for the town, and it’s one he hopes to continue because it’s helping to tell the story of America in a way few other small towns could do.

“We’ve done the research, and the United States has liberated more than 475 million non-American people from foreign occupations,” Starks told Cowboy State Daily in 2024. “And liberation is putting American boots on the ground to throw out a foreign occupier.”

That’s something the country did together, Starks added.

“We delivered freedom to that many people, and then we preserve freedom for a lot more people than that,” he said. “We’ve done humanitarian and peacekeeping missions to a lot more people of every gender, national origin, and we did that because there was something special about how much we valued freedom, even if it’s other people’s freedom.”

That’s a patriotic message Starks hopes never goes out of style, and one he hopes will always send a chill down someone’s spine when they really think about it.

“The next thing we talk about is patriotism,” Starks said. “If we’re a country and we’re a people who did that, there’s something good about us. That doesn’t mean there’s not things bad about us, but there’s something good about us.” 

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.