FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

CARLTON - More than a month ago flood waters tore through Carlton, bringing with it loss, devastation, and a sense of hopelessness.

But on Sunday it was a much different scene.

Hundreds lined the streets downtown for the annual parade, proud to call Carlton home.

"It's really great to see everybody back on their feet and see them moving around and happy of course," said Sherry Mike of Carlton.

But back in June, neighbors were anything but.

Many left town after flash floods made their mark on the Northland.

Cartlon's Jay Cooke State Park was ripped to shreds and morale in town tumbled to an all-time low.

But some who stuck it out, like Tony Ostlund, were there to bring it back up.

He offered shelter to his daughter's friend, when her family's basement was 7.5 feet under water.

"They lost everything down in the basement. So I said 'We'll get it cleaned out, dried out, and I'll come in, put a new water heater in for ya and wire it all done,'" Ostlund said.

It's that compassion that people in town say has helped them recover, and replaced the noise of rushing water with laughter.

"Small towns do that for people. They just stick together," Ostlund said.

"It's a real shock of what happened and such. But you know, things are starting to come around and it's nice to see that people are up and at it and happy," Mike said.

Carlton Daze was a time for the town to push aside thoughts of rebuilding and just have fun.

"I think it's just a community feeling. Everybody from Carlton, we grew up in the town, a lot of us come home and visit quite often, and everybody really pulled together and it's just a good community feeling," said Kourtney Piepenburg of St. Cloud.