2009 GRAND MARSHAL

MARY KIRKLAND

(reprinted from Marysville Globe Marysville Strawberry Festival 78th Annual Official Guide)

Mary Kirkland is as local and as homegrown as they come.

That's usually a prerequisite in the selection process for Strawberry Festival Grand Marshal. But this year it was more likely about not only Kirkland's involvement in the community but her connectedness and love of it that made her an ideal candidate for marshal.

Kirkland, owner of Hilton Pharmacy at Third and State streets, grew up in Marysville. She grew up watching the Strawberry Festival and watching the community itself evolve. She went to Liberty Elementary School, then Marysville Junior High School, then Marysville High School before it became Marysville-Pilchuck High School. From there it was off to the University of Washington where she earned a bachelor's degree in pharmacy.

While she was working on her degree, she held an internship from 1969 to 1973 with Hilton's original owner, Clyde Lashua. Lashua was a fan of Kirkland's. So much so that when she finished school, he offered her a regular position, which she happily took. She spent the next11 years as the company's pharmacist. By 1984, the opportunity presented itself to buy the store, which she did. Running a store, being a pharmacist was just in her nature even as a kid.

"Instead of playing dolls, I always wanted to play store," she said. "So now I get to play store every day and it makes me happy."

Kirkland is quite literally Marysville's local pharmacist. But she's also entrenched in the community. She's been on a Marysville School District site committee, she's been on the board of the YMCA, president, secretary and treasurer of the Downtown Merchants Association, on the board at the Marysville Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Marysville Economic Development and fire District committees and has for the last five years, co-announced the grand parade.

"Marysville as a community has given me a lot. I've had a lot of opportunities as a young person in school so I do believe that you need to give back to the community," she said. "I'm a Marysville cheerleader and am especially fond of the downtown part of Marysville where my family has had all their businesses and where I'm located."

That corner spot has been a great parade-viewing location, too. When the parade took place in the day, she remembered spending the afternoon filling prescriptions, then running outside to clap for a marching band, then running back inside to fill another prescription. Many of the faces who claim parade-viewing spots along State Avenue over the years, remain the same. Then their kids stake out the same spots and eventually, it becomes a family tradition. Customers over the years have come into the pharmacy with their kids and then years later, those kids, now adults, come in with their own children. Kirkland gets to see all that change first hand and it leaves an indelible mark on her, one that makes her perspective of Marysville unique.