MONROE - The Fourth of July activities in Twining Park Friday drew "one of the best crowds" that Recreation Supervisor Marge Klinzing has seen in the last 25 years.

"We can't take credit for it - it's the weather," she said. "It took 30 years to get perfect weather for the Fourth."

Without an exact head count, Klinzing had only clues to how many came out for the activities.

"We had 500 prizes for each (kids') game and those are almost gone," she said at 3:30 p.m. The 12 games started at 11 a.m. with 6,000 prizes.

McKenzie Montgomery, 10, Monroe, won two goldfish by throwing two ping pong balls into fish bowls. For a dollar, she got to throw three balls. Her father smiled, looking not overly enthusiastic, but that didn't daunt McKenzie's enthusiasm for her new pets.

Kaylynn Conway, 8, Monroe spun the Wheel of Misfortune, ironically sponsored by the Optimists clubs, and received a whipped cream pie, without crust, in the face. It tasted good, she said.

Throughout the day, there were games involving seven high school softball teams, 12 adult softball teams, 14 volleyball teams, 200 soccer players, and scores of people watching the games.

Others chose to spend the afternoon in front of the bandshell for the music and dance performances.

Some people who had never come to the Fourth celebration before came out to the park Friday.

Travis Smith, Monroe, came with his daughter, Sunnie Ann, 4. Trying to decide between ice cream or cotton candy, she ended up choosing the latter.

Perhaps it was the cotton candy smell in the air that tempted her. Tom Deprez, working for the Knights of Columbus stand, was outside behind the stand spinning the pink and blue sugars into cotton and twirling the fluff onto paper sticks.

Smith said it was the first time in about four years that he has had the holiday off from work. Usually the family watches the fireworks from somewhere else in town.

"This year, I said, 'Why don't we go to the park?'" Smith said.

Karley Bahr, 16, and her sister Kendra, 12, Blanchardville, came to watch friends Godi Brandli III and Steven Knox, both 16, of Monroe, play ball. They planned to go swimming between the game and the fireworks.

The Kiwanis' free "horse and wagon" rides around the park were popular - although Dewey and Jiggs were actually mules, nobody seemed to care. Fourteen years old, the two have been a "span" (or a pair) their whole lives. Their wagon carried 20 people at a time and some people waited in line for two rounds to get their turn at the 15-minute wagon ride. Dewey and Jiggs and their driver, Clint Zettle, were from Brooklyn.

Amy and Brian Brandt brought their daughter Ruby Rose, 19 months, to the park. The Brandts moved from Lake Mills back to Monroe after being gone for 18 years. Ruby Rose was wide-eyed and taking in all the activity around her from the comfort of her bike trailer-turned-stoller.

"We don't remember them having this growing up," Amy Brandt said of the Fourth activities.

Brandt said she and her husband were looking for a small town to move to and decided Monroe "had more to offer" than the other places they were looking, as well as their families.

She said they had laughed at the Monroe welcome sign - "We bring you back."

"Everything's so close. You can bike all over. It's so nice," she said.

The evening ended with the aerial fireworks display and a fireworks ground display, followed by a round of "Happy Birthday" in celebration of the city's 150th birthday. Wisconsin Community Bank then presented its Sky Concert.

Proceeds for the day will go toward the baseball fields' bleachers and dugouts.

The first Fourth of July celebration the Park and Recreation Department held was in 1983. Klinzing said the proceeds that year went to purchase the electric scoreboard for Recreation. Park.

That year the department tried to make Pizza Hut pizzas to sell.

"We made the dough and everything ... It was a mess," Klinzing laughed. "That's how it all started out."