Published: July 04, 2009 09:30 pm      

Clark County takes pride to the streets, honors Fourth of July

Happy Birthday, America

A variety of vehicles motored down Spring Street on Saturday morning — including tractors and a rocket — during the annual Fourth of July parade in Jeffersonville.

The rocket was the brainchild of the Franklin Commons Neighborhood Association. Group President Dan Christensen said the float, made mostly of cardboard and Styrofoam, was in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Don Herrold, who portrayed Neil Armstrong, called the parade “beautiful,” although he wished it was longer than the four city blocks.

“[Cities] should have more of them. They don’t do it no more. I’m from the old times, we had parades all the time,” said Herrold, 78.

Parade chairwoman Pat Elder called the parade spectacular because of the large crowd and the 50 groups that participated, which was a record for the event that she said has grown each year since the first one in 1999.

“I’m not a good estimator on crowd size, someone asked me earlier and I said, ‘bunches,’” Elder said of the crowd that lined the route.

Parade participants included various schools, nonprofit and business groups, a John Deere riding group, the Jeffersonville High School Marching Red Devils band, an Abraham Lincoln impersonator, Jeffersonville Main Street and city officials, such as Mayor Tom Galligan.

“It was wonderful. A lot of people having a good time, and this is a great event and I think everybody enjoys it and it’s getting bigger every [year],” said Galligan, who walked next to the city float that shot streamers to the crowd.

Four-year-old Kelsie Bader was already draped with streamers before the parade was half-way done.

She came to the parade with her grandparents, John and Carol Bader, who came from Salem to watch her cousin, Ricki Skidmore, who was one of about 50 students marching from Lee’s Taekwondo near the back of the parade.

Carol Bader said Kelsie was even enjoying the streamers more than the candy that many groups passed out, including longtime downtown candy-maker Schimpff’s Confectionery. The family liked their first trip to the city’s parade.

“We are enjoying it a great deal. It is a nice parade,” John Bader said.

Many other families came out to enjoy the festivities, including fellow first-time parade attendees Chris and Dana Brawner, who came because of their children Luke, 5, and Lauren, 3, who spent a lot of time collecting candy.

“They’re loving it, they’re pretty into the parade,” Chris Brawner said.

Even the children giving out the sweet treats said that was their favorite part. Dylan Hampton, 8, was marching with the Pack 48 Cub Scouts from Clarksville. His cubmaster, Garry Nokes, said the pack’s participation was a way to honor veterans. Several other area scouts also marched in the parade.

“We thought this would just be perfect, give the boys a chance to march in a parade and be a very patriotic thing to do,” Nokes said.

Galligan said the parade, along with the concert Friday night by the Louisville Orchestra, capped off a successful holiday weekend for the city.

The parade began on Riverside Drive and proceeded to Spring Street before ending at Warder Park, where a short ceremony to recognize the military took place.

“The purpose of [the parade] is to celebrate our freedom, and I think we’ve done that today,” Elder said.



AND THE WINNERS ARE ...

Jeffersonville’s parade organizers gave four awards for the best displays in Saturday’s event:

• Chairman Award: City of Jeffersonville

• Motorized: Downtown Merchants Association

• Walking: City Pride

• Theme: Rose Hill Neighborhood Association