A small-town atmosphere prevails in Fourth of July parade

The Baltimore Sun

"Candy!" shouted the children as they rushed to the sides of the road and eagerly gathered wrapped sweets off the ground that were tossed from floats during the eighth Independence Day parade in Clarksville.

Local residents packed the grassy areas off Great Star Drive in River Hill villageWednesday morning with lawn chairs and blankets to cheer the parade participants, who handed out freebies to the excited crowd, some of whom came with bags to hold all the goodies.

"It's like a feeding frenzy for kids," said Highland resident Jenn May, who attended the event for the fifth straight year with her husband and two young sons. "It's a very nice hometown parade."

Karen Settle of Highland watched the parade last year and came back with her family to see her son walk in the parade with members of his Cub Scout group. "It's very cute and very small-townish," Settle said.

The River Hill Community Association, which sponsored the event, worked with fire and police departments to coordinate the hourlong, two-mile parade, which included nearly 40 groups.

"I would say it's probably our most popular event for residents, and it's unique for River Hill. Our residents seem to love it, and the kids look forward to participating in the parade each year," said Susan Smith, River Hill village manager.

One of the parade's primary attractions was the performance by the Precision Lawnchair Marching Dads, a group of men who sported tank tops, American flag boxer shorts and long black socks while marching down the street holding foldable lawn chairs.

"Stop, turn around, take a look if you will, here come the dads from River Hill," the 12 men chanted as they walked. The group stopped about 30 times during the parade to form a circle and perform their routines with their lawn chairs, to the delight of the crowd.

The group's leader, River Hill resident Chris Wertman, said they were inspired by a group in Illinois with the same name and concept, though the River Hill dads developed their routines and chants.

"People want to see something a little unusual, so we provide that to them," Wertman said. "My favorite part is being able to do something people enjoy. We're one of the elements that people look forward to."

Doug Nierle and his family moved to Clarksville a month ago and read about the event in an e-mail from Pointers Run Elementary School.

"We've been looking forward to this for weeks now, and we didn't know what to expect," Nierle said. "It's great to see the whole community come together like this. We're really struck by the small-town feel of Clarksville, and this parade just reinforces that."

Mark Mazzarella, head coach of the Pointers Run Piranhas swim team, said participating in the parade is a "good way to show the community who's swimming in the River Hill pool." Swim team members rode on the team float and squirted the crowd with their water guns and threw candy.

Barbara Wertman, who is married to Chris, suggested to the village board that the community have a parade and volunteered to get one started in 2000. Barbara Wertman, who has served every year as the parade coordinator, said it was important to celebrate Independence Day as a community and to establish a tradition for River Hill, which was founded in 1991.

She described the parade as "very grass roots" and hopes the event reinforces "patriotism and love of country."

In Friday's edition of the Howard County section, Kathy Bonebreak was misidentified in a photo caption that ran with a story about the Independence Day parade in Clarksville. Bonebreak is the wife of Columbia orthodontist Byron Bonebreak. The Sun regrets the errors.
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