The Cross Plains Beer Parade.

       Cross Plains has always been famous for parades. As the village slogan says, "famous for friendliness", it was good reason to gather as a community and have a great time. One of the Village's more famous parades was the Beer Parade of 1933. The repeal of the hated Volstead Act, also known as Prohibition and lasting 13 years, was celebrated by the very German community of Cross Plains with a Beer Parade. The parade was to have attracted an estimated 5,000 beer drinkers to the Village, which then had the population of 200. On May5, 2001, Cross Plains reenacted its first version of the Beer Parade, honoring some of the people that were in the 1933 parade. At that parade the Cross Plains Brewery introduced a new beer, Cross Plains Special, which is a pilsner beer. That parade was very successful, so it was decided to do it again.

      The next probable beer parade will be May 2013, celebrating 80 years since the original parade and celebrating the 150th anniversary of Esser's Cross Plains Brewery.