THE FOLLOWING IS FROM JENNIFER BAILEY’S “BAILEY BUZZ” COLUMN IN NEWS-GAZETTE
ABOVE: Ed Shirley of Georgetown, left, with his American Eagle prize-winning float at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield last week. (Photo
That prestigious honor goes to Georgetown’s Ed Shirley and his “America’s Eagle” float. It won first place in the Non-Commercial Float contest.
Shirley has lived in Georgetown for 31 years and is retired as the water and sewer operator.
He and wife Sherry have a hobby business building and renting parade floats. They have 22 in total. Many are lighted and can be seen in Christmas and other parades.
The prize-winning float, which he created 35 years ago with help from a couple friends, is a large sculpture of a bald eagle.
“It was built for the returning year of Desert Storm, 1991,” Shirley said. “That year, I was in the state fair parade. They hired me to come down to honor the returning veterans.”
“It has paraded all over Illinois,” he said of his float, which has been seen in Champaign, Danville, Georgetown, as well as Indiana, Iowa and elsewhere. “It’s had quite a career.”
It’s been in shows including for the Special Olympics and honored veterans in different places.
Shirley said with America’s 250th anniversary this year, he wanted to promote it again and have more people see it.
“We decided to go to the state fair,” he said about returning to that event where it’s received multiple top prizes.
FOR MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S “BAILEY BUZZ” COLUMN PLEASE GO TO https://www.news-gazette.com/bailey_buzz/the-bailey-buzz-aug-20-2026/article_2dd42514-435b-43fb-8e63-6e6bb9c8b6a5.html
