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July Fourth brings parades, patriots and pests
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Who knew gnats were so patriotic?
The throngs of people that flanked Moss Mill Road in Smithville for Galloway Township's Fourth of July parade were joined by somewhere between a gazillion and a kajillion tiny bugs.
Parade-watchers slapped at their bare necks, arms and legs when they were not clapping for the floats and marchers. Carol Somers, a teacher from the Leeds Point section of Galloway Township, estimated with a grin that she had killed 3,242,000 gnats before the two-hour parade was through.
But Somers also estimated that the crowd for the 11th annual parade was the biggest one ever.
"This is huge," Somers said as she waited for her husband's Rolling Thunder motorcycle group to pass by. "It's a community thing. It's great for all the kids and parents."
Atlantic City resident James Burroughs agreed the Smithville parade had grown, although the director of the Neptune's Guard Drum and Bugle Corps said it is harder to find parades, and parade participants, these days. His own group of 5- to 20-year-olds is down to 19 members from a 45-year high of 72 members.
Those events that remain are more staunchly patriotic than he remembers from a generation ago.
"Since we've been in the Persian Gulf, it seems like patriotism's on the upswing," said Burroughs, 68.
A religious tone infiltrated some Smithville entries. One sign read, "If we ever forget we are one nation under God, we will be one nation gone under." A recorded song playing from another float implored God to "forgive our sin and heal our broken land."
One of the day's biggest cheers came before the parade even began. A Toyota Camry zoomed along the closed-down road until a police officer darted in front and threw up his hand. Brakes squealed, and the officer escorted the car off the road, to the approval of the crowd.
Parades stepped off in several other southern New Jersey towns, including Strathmere in Upper Township, Wildwood and Cape May. Crowds packed the streets and sidewalks for Ocean City's parade, although one bicycle group's sign read: "Downsized (We invested with Bernie Madoff)."
Strathmere's parade, which in the past couple of years has become a vehicle for a secession debate, was "less adversarial" than before, Mayor Richard Palombo said.
"People put aside some of their differences and just enjoyed the day," said Palombo, who has voted against leaving Upper Township. "There were a few signs, but ... nothing that anyone found offensive in any way. I thought it was very congenial."
In Lower Township, two touring baseball teams played a game using rules that predate the nation's centennial. The Elkton (Md.) Eclipse and the Flemington Meshanock played a two-hour game at Historic Cold Spring Village.
They played without mitts, recorded outs by catching fly balls on one bounce and recorded other outs by throwing the ball - slightly larger and softer than today's baseballs - at the runners, assistant curator Nicola DeSanctis said. The rules were conceived in 1873 - 30 years before the first World Series.
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Posted in Breaking on Sunday, July 5, 2009 6:00 am Updated: 12:06 am. | Tags: Fourthphotos, Youdownthere
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