Gallion’s fair journey comes full circle

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 17, 2026

By KATE POSS

Special to The Record

Longtime fair volunteer, musician and small-engine mechanic Mike Gallion will serve as grand marshal of the 103rd Whidbey Island Fair Parade on Saturday, July 25.

Gallion, whose involvement with the fair spans more than seven decades, will ride alongside Langley Mayor Kennedy Horstman in a classic Rolls-Royce convertible during the 10 a.m. parade. The shortened route begins at Island Church on Sixth Street and Cascade Avenue and ends at the fairgrounds.

“As an Army brat, I’ve never really had a hometown,” Horstman wrote in an email. “The opportunity to ride with Mike in the Fair Parade makes me feel like I’ve found home.”

Gallion may be best known as the man who repaired chainsaws and lawnmowers for generations of South Whidbey residents. Others know him as a fisherman, musician, Bunyan Busters announcer or one of the ROMEOs — the Retired Old Men Eating Out.

Gallion said the idea came up during a ROMEO lunch after he mentioned he had been named grand marshal. Fellow member Jim Simpson, who restores classic sports cars, arranged for the use of a privately owned Rolls-Royce convertible.

“There’s never been a car like this in the parade,” Gallion said.

Simpson will drive the wine-colored classic convertible while Gallion and Horstman ride in the back seat.

In an email, Gallion described the vintage Rolls-Royce as a left-hand-drive convertible built by coachbuilder Hibbard & Darrin for the North American and European markets. He wrote that its inline six-cylinder engine is estimated to produce about 108 horsepower, although Rolls-Royce never published horsepower figures, saying only that it had “adequate power.” He added that the owner has several Rolls-Royces.

Gallion will also perform throughout the fair. On Saturday and Sunday, he will play during breaks in the Bunyan Busters competitions from a hay wagon equipped with his sound system. Events include speed climbing 80-foot poles, axe throwing, crosscut sawing, log rolling and hand chopping. He will also perform on the fair’s Main Stage.

Gallion has played guitar since 1966 and later performed with the Headstone Band, which he described as South Whidbey’s first resident rock band. He plays a semi-acoustic, electric 12-string guitar and now performs regularly at Maple Ridge.

Gallion, 81, moved to Whidbey Island with his family in the mid-1950s and lives in the home his parents bought in 1963. He spent his childhood summers fishing from a small motorboat.

“I set records with a fly rod,” he said.

Gallion’s ties to Whidbey began even earlier. His parents bought a fishing cabin on Mutiny Bay in 1948, where he spent his summers fishing from a 10-foot rowboat with a small outboard motor. His father, an airline pilot, eventually decided he preferred island life to Seattle, and the family moved to a 20-acre farm on Crawford Road before later settling in a home overlooking Useless Bay.

Gallion attended school in Langley, where he developed a fascination with fishing and small engines. As a teenager, he frequently visited a Freeland outboard motor and chainsaw repair shop with his father.

“I was always interested in mechanical things, engines,” Gallion said. “I started hanging out for fun.”

When the shop owner retired, Gallion’s father bought the business.

“I was 15. I didn’t have my license yet and my folks would drive me to work,” Gallion recalled. “I’ve been involved one way or another with small engines ever since.”

His fair involvement began in 1959, when fair leaders Eva Mae Gabelein, Evelyn Gallion and Mary Lou Henny founded the Centaurs 4-H Horse Club in the Gallion family’s Crawford Road living room. Gallion served as the club’s vice president that year and president the following year. He led the 4-H horse contingent in the fair parade and won the fair’s overall horsemanship trophy two years in a row.

At 15, Gallion started Freeland Power Mower Service and rented a booth in the fair’s commercial building to showcase his business. His photographs also earned ribbons at the fair. Later, he and Bob Vaughan founded the South Whidbey 4-H Photography Club.

“The 4-H building, now known as the Coffman Building, was built so 4-H would have a place to display their arts, crafts and photography,” Gallion said. “I was the photography judge the first and second year that the new building was available.”

Gallion founded the Fishing Club of Whidbey Island in 1989 and served as its president for 25 years. The club maintained a display tent at the fair for many years, giving local anglers a place to share stories and information.

Since 2021, Gallion has been part of the Bunyan Busters log show. He joined the Island County Fair Association board four years ago, created the Whidbey Fair Friends Facebook page and has been a regular performer at the fair since 2023.

This year, instead of simply entertaining fairgoers, he’ll lead the parade as grand marshal before picking up his guitar once again.