There is an aphorism that asserts that you cannot step into the same river twice; the perpetual flow of water is the very embodiment of change. To that we would add that you cannot step into the same Labor Day Parade twice because of the ever-changing nature of Newtown. And while we’re tossing out aphorisms, we might as well note the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The 47th Annual Labor Day Parade in Newtown steps off at the head of Main Street at 10 am on the Monday holiday, as always, with color guards and the Newtown High School Marching Band leading the way. More than 100 other marching units, from the Girls Scouts to “The Strongest Man In America,” will fall in behind, streaming down Main Street, along Glover Avenue to Queen Street for the next couple of hours. (See the Line of March below.) With thousands of people in the parade and thousands more lining the parade route, this is easily the biggest community event of the year. And notwithstanding the changing hairstyles and fashions, this year’s parade, when taken as a whole, should look pretty much like any of the previous 46 parades. It is a part of our community life that appears to be frozen in time.

But from close-up at curbside, the individual faces of all the marchers are clearly visible, like pixels on a screen, and we can see how every parade is unique — a snapshot of the town at the moment. In our always inadequate attempt to take that snapshot, The Bee plans to be at curbside with cameras blazing, filling pages in our issue next week with photos of the spectacle. Even if we doubled, or tripled, the number of photos we publish, we still wouldn’t come close to capturing the sense of this community the parade conveys. The only way to get it is to be there. Leave a little time to find a parking place and spot with a good view. It will be your last chance to see Newtown as it is right now — until next year.