Heart BEAT

Residents Organize An All-American Parade

Second Annual Fourth Of July Parade Brings Out A Modest Crowd To Honor The Holiday And Veterans

W

AITSBURG -

As the fire siren sounded on top of the Waitsburg Fire Depart- ment last Wednesday, the former soldiers and some friends and family members began to march.

Cougar Henderson kept the pace on the drum and the veterans honorably held their flags high in the air as they paraded at a slow, reverent pace down Main Street.

For the small Fourth of July parade in Waitsburg last week, there was a turn- out of about 30 or so spectators. Some sat in their cars with the air conditioners on or stood on the sidewalk waving American Flags and hoping to score some candy.

Patriotism was shown through many ways that Wednesday - with red, white and blue shirts, spar- kly American flag hats and Waitsburg resident Tom Baker even had small flags attached to the handle bars of his bicycle.

This is only the second year the small parade was held in Waitsburg to honor the Fourth of July holiday. Not in recent memory has there been a large event held on the Fourth in the town, said longtime resident Jack McCaw, who also marched on Wednesday representing his service in the Navy in World War II.

"If you're an Ameri- can, you ought to do those things," McCaw said.

He remembers families having picnics in the park on the holiday and for a couple of years playing in the Lion's Club softball game, the Waitsburg club versus the Prescott club, in Prescott at the school. They even had fireworks after the ball game, he said.

But, when the games ceased there wasn't any kind of large celebration.

One day, a couple of years ago, a group of Waits- burg residents sitting in the Waitsburg Hardware store having coffee decided that needed to change.

"We wanted to celebrate the Fourth in a real, old- fashioned way," McCaw said.

Pastor Bret Moser of the Waitsburg Presbyte- rian Church said the small parade and picnic for the holiday was really the idea of John and Marilyn Stellwagen who own the hardware store. Moser said Rob Beckner, Kevin Blair and Rose Engelbrite also stepped up to the plate to make it happen.

"It was cozy, simple, and very relaxed," Moser said.

After the group marched down Main Street on Wednesday, they stood in front of the town's former liquor store with their flags still held high. Moser read a prayer originally written by Thomas Jefferson, and the group led the spectators in singing "My Country Tis of Thee" and "God Bless America."

After the singing, every- one went to the city park for hot dogs and potluck salads. Moser said there were about 105 people and plenty of food.

"It was really a home- town picnic," McCaw said.

Moser said the goal of the event is not to spend months organizing it into a huge, complicated spectacle.

The idea is to simply get people together and honor the meaning of the day, he said. Waitsburg is all about small- town community values and the small produc- tion to honor veterans was something the town needed.

Moser, who served as an officer in the Army for 10 years in infantry and transportation, said for him, personally, the parade was important because of those who stood beside him.

"It's pretty moving to be walking with the veterans," Moser said.

There was a representa- tive from each branch of the military and the Marine carried the Marine flag and so on.

He added only in Waits- burg could a small group of enthusiastic and encouraging leaders put together such a nice event.

"It just really made you feel special that we could do this," Moser said.