A small-town 4th of July

By mid-morning, our resident veteran had hung the flag to signify the 232nd birthday of our country. It was an overcast and humid day, with the unmistakable feel of rain in the air.

As I was ready to doze on the sofa, sure that the Shepherdstown 4th of July parade would be rained out, the sun peeked out. So we drove into town, easily found a place to park and walked over to German Street.

A few years ago, I could have done this without seeing anybody I knew, but today it seemed that we knew nearly everyone, so it was like a neighborhood street party. I took plenty of pictures, too.

This man, Phil Hill, is a retired attorney I met when I volunteered for the local CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) several years ago. Dig the pants -- pants he's had since the Bicentennial. But, Phil, with a hot pink shirt? Well, even lawyers can celebrate the 4th, right?

Next, in the lineup for the parade, we came across the Boy Scouts, the pack sponsored by our church and led by Tom White, an Eagle Scout in a family of Eagle Scouts (all three men, father, son and grandson, are Eagle Scouts). That's Tom in the middle, in front of the Episcopal Church. And there, just behind the Boy Scouts, was my neighbor Diane, on Shepherd Grade Rd., just before Glen Road, riding one of her horses, with riders on the other two. Those self-same horses often clomp down Glen Road, dropping piles of manure as they trot along!























Now, these guys I don't know. But they were marching with a car carrying a surviving nurse from the WACs in WW II. And they wanted their 15 minutes of fame on Ajax Rock.

Then, we bumped into some of the Tom and Lolly Martin family. Lolly was finishing up in the garden, but George took her place in this photo with Tom (a new city council member who "stood" for office but refused to campaign. He won big-time.) Next to him is a guy named Bob Smith, another friend of Tom and Lolly. And Susie, Lolly's sister who is an artist and a sweetheart, is on the right. Except for her mother, Lolly is the most liberal, kind and intelligent person I know here. And she has the greenest thumb of anyone on the planet. Just ask Bethy who got a private tour of Lolly's "Secret Garden."
Now, in the parade itself, we had some classic cars, but I chose this one for the blog because it's a '57 or '58 Chevy (I think), and it reminded me of Don. K.'s old black and white Chevy, the one that made him one of the coolest guys in Athens County, back in the day.
We also had an old-time Appalachian string band playing from a trailer on the back of a local tree-service truck. And they were good!
I especially liked the mother-daughter entry, the little girl carrying a sign with an important message: "Vote. It's patriotic."















Then, we looked across the street to find our pastor, Dee-Ann, with the Dixon-Gross family. That's Dee-Ann's mother, originally from the Phillippines, on the left, with husband Dave Gross in the middle and son Miles on the right. In front are daughter Maya, Dee-Ann's dad, a retired Forest Service employee (who, with her mom, live in Washington state but are here visiting), cute-as-a-button Dee-Ann and son Jordan. This is a picture of America today, and I love it!



















Now, this woman is a hoot! She's an actress who was helping to promote the annual Contemporary American Theater Festival, which is in its sixth year in Shepherdstown. New plays are premiered at the festival, and it draws people from all over the U.S., many from New York. Several years ago, Joyce Carol Oates launched a new play here. My friend Linda Figueroa will be coming down from Penn. to see a play with me this month. This is from one of last season's sets, but ya' gotta' love the sunflower and cactus combo.
















Finally, Asbury United Methodist Church had a contingent of its congregation marching in the parade, and since I volunteered to organize our Martin Luther King, Jr. Choir Festival in February, I had the privilege of meeting the man below, one of the Mighty Men of God in Asbury's choir. And this big guy can sing to please the angels!! I half-expected him to belt out a good old "Praise the Lord" right then and there.











So there you have a blow-by-blow of our little parade. When you think of how many little towns all over the U.S. throw birthday parties like this, it really warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it? Even a disheartened left-field person like me is a patriot. I just happen to think that being patriotic means fighting to see your country be the best that it can be. And sometimes, living here, I think how lucky I am to live in a town where everybody looks and seems just as "big" and important as everyone else.

Tomorrow night we will go across the Potomac to our neighboring town of Sharpsburg, Md., to see the fireworks at the Antietam battlefields. We'll have a good vantage point from the porch of the McNally family, where we'll eat a hotdog, drink a glass of lemonade, and offer a toast to better times ahead, not just for us but for every citizen in our country and for all of the legions of individuals who wish they were.

Happy Fourth of July, ya'll.