Granholm accepts invitation to march in Posen festival grand parade

Michigan?s first elected female governor plans to visit the 54th annual Posen Potato Festival the weekend after Labor Day. According to Andrea Konwinski, who serves as chairperson of the grand parade, officials from the governor?s office recently contacted her to accept last year?s invitation to the festival. On behalf of the Posen Chamber of Commerce, Konwinski invited Granholm to Posen in 2004, but she wasn?t able to attend.

Konwinski said the governor wants to attend events she had to turn down last year, before scheduling other activities or community visits. Initial plans have Granholm marching in the grand parade, Sunday, September 11 at 1:30 p.m., but she might be involved in other activities in Posen if time allows. It?ll be Granholm?s second trip to Posen. She marched in the 2002 festival parade, flashing smiles and thumbs up to parade-goers, two months before being elected governor on November 6, 2002.

IN PREPARING for the governor?s visit, most of the questions come from the governor?s office, Konwinski said. They want to know where to meet for the parade, a lit

tle history of the festival, and the purpose of the event. ?She brings her own security,? Konwinski said. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Granholm serves as vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association and chair of the National Governor?s Association Health and Human Services Committee, according to the Michigan.gov website. She and her husband, Daniel G. Mulhern, have three children. Konwinski and chamber members have their fingers crossed that the governor will be able to accept an earlier invitation to attend the St. Casimir Catholic Church Rosary Sodality Potato Pancake Smorgasbord before the parade.

She would dine with Posen chamber president Randy Idalski and his wife Laura, Miss Posen Amanda Pieczynski and her parents, and grand marshals Michael and Sophie Andrzejewski. In addition to becoming the first woman governor, she also was the first female Michigan attorney general, elected to that office in 1998. Numerous dignitaries have attended the festival including the late Gov. G. Mennen ?Soapy? Williams, who was a regular in the 1950s.

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