Parades that I will never forget
Winter seems to have arrived just in time for the annual Rome Christmas Parade. This year, for some reason, the parade committee chose to honor me as grand marshal. To say that I am honored would be the understatement of the year.
While I have worked in Rome since 1984 — with the exception of a four-month period of time when I gave Montgomery, Alabama, a brief shot — there are not many folks who know of the roots I have with parades.
Every weekend of my formative years was spent at my grandparents’ home in Flint Hill, Virginia.
It’s a small unincorporated town in Rappahannock County, about the same distance outside of D.C. as we are from Atlanta. Close enough to take advantage of the big city when something special arises, far enough out to not face the daily traffic hassle.
And let me assure those of you who think Atlanta traffic is a disaster, you need to try navigating inside the Beltway around Washington D.C!
So little Rappahannock County, one of the smallest in terms of square mileage in Virginia, includes the towns of Flint Hill, Little Washington, Sperryville, Amissville, Woodville, Huntly and Chester Gap. I haven’t been back to Rappahannock since my mother passed away in 2012.
Each of the towns had its own volunteer fire department and each of them, as I was growing up, had a summer fundraising carnival. Flint Hill’s was a four-night event, always ending on the first Saturday in August.
Wednesday night was always fireworks night, Thursday was the grand parade, Friday was just, well, Friday, and Saturday night we gave away a new car. It was always a Plymouth because the man who was the chief of the volunteer fire unit was Emory Russell and he owned a Plymouth dealership.
My father, Maurice “Moe” Walker, inherited primary responsibility for the carnival from Boo Bradford. Dad took particular pride in the parade. It was always large and Miss Virginia was always the grand marshal. We had a contract with the pageant and, as best as I recall, the parade was generally one of the first public appearances for the new holder of the crown.
When I got old enough to have a driver’s license, I actually drove the Plymouth convertible carrying Miss Virginia. That, as you might imagine, was always a treat for a 16-year-old young man. One of them, Kylene Barker, went on to become Miss America 1979. She was nicer than she was pretty !
I’m not sure how he did it — because schools back in the day didn’t start until after Labor Day and I don’t think many of the bands had really started practicing that early in the summer — but Dad always managed to attract high school bands from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Most of them would drive for hours just to get there and be in the parade, and I recall more than once the parade was held up for a period of time waiting for a band to arrive.
Aside from the high school bands, there were always other musical units. Fife and drum corps were big in the midAtlantic region, notably the Tam O’Shanters out of Pennsylvania. Dad was also able to get military bands out of the D.C. area, including the Third Regiment “Old Guard” marching band.
There were a slew of majorette units, of course, and every one of the volunteer fire departments would have a truck in the parade.
I spent Thursday mornings helping Dad stake out a pasture at Brue Wood’s farm, which is where the parade would line up. If it rained before the parade, it could become a challenge to get the heavy fire trucks and big rigs that pulled floats into position.
Rome has a much easier time with that, lining up along East First Avenue and Glenn Milner Boulevard.
I’m not sure how many years that Lisa Smith and I have done the announcing for the parade on the Library Channel here in Rome, but it has always been a labor of love.
There is nothing quite like a parade and the Rome Christmas Parade is one of the best.
Just like the old days in Rappahannock County, every community in Floyd County is well represented. Coosa, Lindale (Pepperell), Model, and Armuchee all have their high school bands in the parade with the Rome High and Middle school bands. All of the individual communities have their Pee Wee football players and cheerleaders on floats, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops are always well-represented, lots of churches participate and it’s just a wonderful event.
Through the years I’ve often heard that as many as 20,000 folks might line Broad Street for the parade. I will confess to you that I’ve always been at least a little skeptical about that number. But regardless, Broad Street is NEVER more crowded than it is on Christmas Parade night. Trying to leave town after the parade makes that 20,000 number seem realistic!
To have been selected to lead that parade this year is an honor I will never forget.
Hope to see you downtown Tuesday night!