Kelly Merkner had a sweet pep talk with her granddaughter before the start of the Malden annual Labor Day Parade on Monday.

“I gave her the lowdown before we left: be animated,” Merkner said.

The conversation worked: Madelyn Merkner, 11, and her grandmother filled two big bags of sweet treats to take home as some 100 vehicles passed by them in front of Jake’s Feed Store on Ind. 49 and County Road 325 South in Morgan Township.

Parade entries, which passed in front of fields full of corn, included county fire trucks and emergency vehicles, vintage police cars, antique and vintage cars, politicians seeking election, members of the Civil Air Patrol, and even a shorts-wearing Santa on a motorbike.

“I love parades,” Merkner said.

Merkner, who lives in Morgan Township, said the annual para

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