WINSLOW — The grand marshal for the parade at this year’s Winslow Family 4th of July Celebration was chosen for his decades-long dedication to the volunteer committee that organizes the landmark festivities.

Dan Quirion, 58, served on the committee for 23 years, helping to organize novelties to sell and recruiting more volunteers, before retiring last year.

When the committee announced he was chosen as grand marshal of the Fourth of July parade, Quirion said he was surprised.

“I did this because I wanted to,” he said.

However, Kevin Douglass, chairman of the volunteer committee, said Quirion was chosen for that very dedication.

“We wanted to honor him this year,” Douglass said. “The grand marshal is what kicks off the Fourth of July celebration. He’s sort of like the ambassador for the day.”

The community does a lot for Quirion, Douglass said, so he figured he should do something good in return.

“Being involved in the community was something important to me,” Quirion said in an interview Tuesday at Fort Halifax Park, where many of the celebrations will take place.

He’s lived in Winslow for about 30 years after growing up in nearby Waterville and attending Waterville High School.

Quirion has worked at Colby College as a service center supervisor in the mailroom for 23 years, and previously worked in the physical plant department there for 16 years.

He also served on the school board at St. John’s Regional Catholic School and coached peewee football and Little League Baseball in Winslow when his two sons were younger. Now one of his sons serves on the volunteer committee.

Quirion said he thinks the three-day Fourth of July celebration is good for the community because it helps bring families together.

“And it’s an inexpensive way to do it,” Quirion said, adding that he hopes the celebration continues in Winslow.

The committee worried that the celebration would have to be moved to a different town after it was faced with a higher bill for police coverage, although those issues were resolved when other police departments said they would pitch in. Most of the cost will go toward placing about 20 officers around the park during the fireworks display.

Increased police coverage is necessary for the weekend, when an estimated 70,000 people come to Winslow for the festivities.

“The Fourth of July in itself is important to celebrate,” Douglass said. The day honors our past and looks toward our futures as Americans, and the events in Winslow, going on 26 years, are celebrating that, he said.

The community events are important to have so that anyone, regardless of income, can come out and celebrate the day as well, he said.

The parade, scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon on the Fourth of July, is set to be “one of the largest parades we’ve had in a few years,” Douglass said. The fireworks display at nightfall is also going to be bigger than usual this year, he said. The committee also can use more volunteers, too, he said. People can call 776-5678 if they’d like to help.

The committee also is excited about the returning Journey tribute band from Boston, Scarab, and the Waterville band Out of the Blue, which is performing on Sunday during the street dance.

“We’ve lost a lot of events in central Maine,” Douglass said. “This is not one that we want to lose.”

Madeline St. Amour – 861-9239

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Twitter: @madelinestamour