Parade Crowd Shows

‘A Passion For Newtown’

By Kendra Bobowick and Nancy K. Crevier

Just before 10 am, Monday, September 7, Joey Davis glanced up the street from his spot in front of the Pleasance. As vendors pulled carts bursting with balloons and stuffed animals, the sound of drums and sirens reached Joey — a police car’s flashing lights drawing his attention.

“It’s started! It’s started!” came the cry as the slow-moving Newtown police car appeared at the top of Main Street. “It” was the 48th Annual Newtown Labor Day Parade, and the excitement was palpable as the streets rapidly cleared of mingling friends and neighbors out to celebrate the end of summer, the Newtown way.

Lawn chairs that had lined the streets along the parade route since dusk the night before — and even earlier in some cases — were pulled close to the curb, the better to see and hear the sights and sounds of this year’s parade.

As always, homeowners along Main Street, Glover Avenue, and Queen Street hosted friends and family. serving up early morning feasts that ranged from cooked-on-the-spot eggs to bagels and muffins. A hot cup of coffee (with or without…) warded off the last cool remains of the night, then everyone was ready to welcome the sun shining through a high sheen of clouds and settle in for the next two hours of festivities.

The parade spilled down the hill from the flagpole, bringing with it fire engines, ambulances, horse-drawn carriages, men bearing muskets, cheerleaders, marching bands, and float after float full of familiar community faces. A few paradegoers were disappointed by the parade committee’s decision to limit fire and other large trucks to three per entrant, but a few brief blasts of the sirens by the fire trucks’ drivers, and it was smiles all around. One siren blast lasted a bit longer and held a bit more urgency as Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps was called to duty as the parade got underway. “Move to the left,” came the call, and dancers and drummers clustered to one side to let the ambulance through.

Newtown girls field hockey team mascot Corona, a longhaired Chihuahua, glanced at high school team member Brady Eggleston as she pushed a water cart, and passed a speckled white dog, Max — one of many canines in the parade crowd and procession — at his first parade. An otherwise calm canine parade viewer could not restrain himself from howling wildly as the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard trotted past.

The field hockey team was one of many school organizations touting wares, from towels and blankets to Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

A dad, seated in a big red wagon, steered his load of children down Main Street, evidently seeking the best viewing spot for the parade following behind him. Waving an American flag, Meghan Condon laughed with her friend Lila Kohrman-Glaser. who shook her flag with pirate’s skull and crossbones back and forth. Passing Meghan and Lila where they stood on the corner of Glover Avenue were their friends Sarah Craig, peddling a Newtownopoly game, and Sarah Coements.

Nearly on their heels was the antique car rolling around the corner carrying parade Grand Marshal Julia Wasserman.

Mrs Wasserman accepted the honor of serving as Grand Marshal this past spring, and according to parade committee president Beth Caldwell, she was the ideal candidate to personify this year’s parade theme of “A Passion For Newtown.” The former state representative appeared relaxed and happy from atop the convertible chauffeuring her along the route. Her gentle wave was responded to in like, arms and hands waving in the air as she passed by.

There were plenty of local politicians on hand, including Newtown First Selectman Joe Borst, State Representative Chris Lyddy, Congressman Christopher Murphy, and State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Governor M. Jodi Rell kept step with her Lieutenant Governor Michael Fidele, and candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties took advantage of the day to get their names and faces out in front of a crowd of thousands. From the colorful Independent Party of Newtown float, the strains of “Take A Load Off Annie” performed by The Adults band showed a lot of “Passion For Newtown.” Near the intersection of Queen Street and Glover were crowds of people holding balloons, and hollering their support for the hundreds of politicians, businessmen and women, volunteers, and community members to walk past in this year’s parade.

Floats galore peppered the lineup, doing their best to reflect this year’s theme. It was not clear exactly what their passion was, but who could resist C&S Septic supporters Cayenne and Sidney Spremullo and Patricia Lockman dressed as bees in black and yellow striped tights, buzzing along behind the company’s “honey wagon?” Newtown Congregational Church had a “Passion for Fun” and a larger-than—life waving clown as its entry; Trinity Church’s float displayed a serene Newtown church scene, their passion. The staff at Dr Joshua Baum’s orthodontics office went all out to impress the crowd with their “Passion for Newtown,” and ended up winning First Place for the Best Float.

Candy was a big draw for the little people in the crowd. Armed with colorful bags, they anxiously hovered at the curb waiting for each new round of candy showering down from the floats.

It was the first Newtown Labor Day Parade for a visitor at Laura and Ken Lerman’s Main Street home, as well. Tobias Johansson of Halmstab, Sweden, arrived two weeks ago at the Lermans’ daughter’s Stamford home. Tobias will be employed by Samantha (Lerman) and David Bernstein as an au pair for their two boys, Max, 7, and Henry, 5 years old.

“I’ve wanted to do be an au pair in America for years,” Tobias said following Monday’s parade. The youngest of five siblings, he is the uncle to six youngsters in Sweden, and hopes one day to be a history and English teacher. “It’s a great way to exchange cultures and to see the world,” he said of this new experience.

Parades are not a common occurrence in Sweden, said Tobias, who could recall only one or two at the most that he had ever seen.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. I really liked it,” he said of the Newtown event. “I liked the men in the little cars the best [Pyramid Shriners Motor Patrol] and the bag pipe bands. I liked seeing that the kids all seem to have a good time. They all seemed excited from the get-go.”

And while barbequing is not a foreign concept to the 20-year-old Swede, he was looking forward to the feast the Lermans were serving up postparade — just in case the “coffee and” served beforehand did not hold everyone over.

Back along the parade route, longtime parade attendees were pleased to see old favorites marching down the street. The Newtown High School Marching Band elicited a roar of approval as it marched smartly past, and the red and black attired Connecticut Rebels of ’76 of Danbury had many putting both hands together to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The beat of drums from the Celtic Cross Fife and Drums, the Connecticut Alumni Senior Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Moodus Fife and Drum pounded through the crowd. Ears perked up to hear the piping of the Litchfield Pipe and Drum, and more than one paradegoer left the parade with the strains of the Mattatuck Drum Corps rendition of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” still going through their heads.

Gymnasts bounced and flipped, skateboarders soared through the air with the greatest of ease, and fire companies, civic groups, grassroots organizations, and clusters of Newtown business members strode along.

Dance lovers were not disappointed. Members of the Sons of Portugal Dance Group were dressed in traditional garb and clicking castanets skipped down the street. The Rocking Roosters Square Dance Club was well represented, as were members of Dance, Etc.

Members of this year’s recipient of the Newtown Labor Day Parade Legends and Pioneers Award, Miss Lathrop’s School of Dance, strutted their stuff in glimmering costumes. The Legends and Pioneers Award is given each year to an individual or organization that has helped make the parade a special tradition through longtime participation.

Those who make it a point to attend every year appreciate a little something new in the parade. Connecticut’s oldest survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack, Walter Mallin; Miss Connecticut 2009 Sharalynn Kuziak, and Miss Connecticut Teen Eladia Watkins filled the bill on that point, along with Senior Olympics silver medal winners O’Neill’s Connecticut Senior Moments Women’s Softball Team.

As the skirls of the New Haven Gaelic Pipe Band faded in the distance and antique tractors (none newer than 1959) wheeled down Main Street, the crowd began to gather its belongings, hug each other farewell, and trek back to waiting vehicles. Another successful Newtown Labor Day Parade has gone down in history.