After almost 30 years as a spectator, 93-year-old Margaret Vandiver will lead the Liberty Lake Fourth of July parade this year as the Grand Marshal, riding in the lead golf cart. 

Living in the Alpine Village condos, the parade has literally been at Vandiver's doorstep since she purchased her condo in the 1980s. Not only does she always have a chair in the front row of the audience, Vandiver has often put her stereo speakers in the window and played marching band music to accompany the marchers, decorated bicycles and patriotic-themed golf carts. And it wouldn't be a Liberty Lake tradition if she wasn't wearing her red-and-white hat for the occasion.

Vandiver ended up in Liberty Lake after living in Alaska with her husband and youngest son for several years. After her husband died in a boating accident there, she stayed a few more years but eventually ended up moving to Washington to be near a friend who lived in Spokane. 

"One day, we went for a ride out here around the lake. I got a realtor right after that and bought my place," Vandiver said. 

She immediately became involved in the community and spent over 20 years serving on the board of the Alpine Village Condo Association as secretary, treasurer and president. Those who know her confirm that Vandiver is a feisty lady, and she is quick to say that she wasn't a pushover when it came to association politics.

"I kind of put my foot down if I didn't like what was going on," she said. 

Vandiver also held several jobs over the years, including arranging flowers at Appleway Florist and Greenhouse in Spokane Valley, owning her own flower shop in St. Maries, Idaho, and serving as the secretary at her church. 

While her three adult children and seven grandchildren are spread out around the country (Seattle, California and New York), Vandiver has a backup family in the Liberty Lake community.

"They look after me. I've known them since I first moved here," she said of next door neighbors Rick and Lois Martin. The Martins, in turn, say Vandiver is extremely independent and has done it all - and then some.

"A lot of people affectionately call her our Annie Oakley," Rick Martin said. "She's done more stuff in her life. She drove around the country in a van, she was a pilot and she rode her horse three miles to go to school."

Vandiver didn't slow down much as she got older, either. Until a few years ago, she traveled and camped out of her camper van, often with a neighbor and sometimes with a group of other people her age looking for adventure. She particularly liked going places where she could fish, including Washington and north Idaho for fly fishing. The van that many people knew her by was originally purchased in Alaska, and Vandiver drove it to Washington when she moved here. She drove it for years, taking it on all kinds of adventures, including the one over 20 years ago where she acquired the iconic hat that she wears for the Fourth of July parade every year. 

While she can't recall what state it was in, Vandiver says she was camped near a group of what she describes as gypsies who were selling goods out of their camp. She spotted the red and white cowboy hat made out of beer cans and quickly bought it. As she walked around the campground wearing the hat, many people asked where she'd gotten it.

"They could have sold a dozen of them if they'd had them," she said. "But I got the only one."

While she no longer drives or travels and has seen a lot of changes in her time, Vandiver says she hasn't noticed any negative changes in the Liberty Lake community.

"The neighborhoods haven't deteriorated a bit," she said. "Everybody takes care of their property and keeps the area clean. All the people are very nice."

The Martins, Vandiver's next door neighbors, are the nicest to her, Vandiver says. They will be riding with her in the lead golf cart on the Fourth of July or finding another neighbor to do so.  

"She's a near and dear friend," Rick Martin said. "She's a very deserving person for the honor that she's going to have. She's been iconic for the parade over the years."

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The following have been honored as grand marshals since the inception of the Fourth of July Parade in Alpine Shores in 1989:  

2015 Margaret Vandiver

2014 Tom & Bev Markson

2013 Harley & Lorraine Halverson

2012 Dave & Susan Graham

2011 Bob & Barbara Gamble

2010 Lois Hatch

2009 Darlene Stokke

2008 Dick & Donna Hoover

2007 Ray & Karen Ruef

2006 Harold & Joan Hughes

2005 Anton "Ras" Rasmussen

2004 Howard & Mary Floy Dolphin

2003 Lyle Stephenson

2002 Floyd & Betty Johnson 

2001 Lud Kramer

2000 Lee Smith

1999 Elmer Schneidmiller

1998 Rosie Brady

1997 Ruth Barnes

1996 Bob Blair

1995 Jim Brumm

1994 Bob Wills Sr.

1993 Della Neyland

1992 Alex Farrante

1991 Ann MacKenzie Wyatt

1990 June Bailey

1989 Sigwell Knudsen