MORGANTOWN — The sky was gray and the air was wet and sticky as folks situated themselves up and down High Street for the Celebration of America Parade. There’d been some rain earlier, and puddles stood here and there along the street, but it looked like the parade might be rain-free.
Few of the parade entries had arrived yet, but four uniformed Civil Air Patrol Cadets stood at the top of High Street, holding the U.S. and West Virginia flags. They would be following the police escort to lead off the parade.
Henry Shriver attends University High; Jacob La Neve and Alan Hongpaisan both attend Morgantown High; Brianna Pyles attends Pierpont Community College and is learning how to work on airplanes.
This wasn’t their first parade, they said – they’re parade veterans, and they volunteered for the task. “We’ve been doing it for a while,” Pyles said.
Further down the street, the Mayfield family, of Morgantown, was seated on the sidewalk: parents Dan and Melissa, and their boys Isaac, 8, and Jackson, 6.
They, too, were parade veterans, and weren’t terribly disappointed that there would be no waterfront fireworks later in the evening. They went to Reedville’s display last weekend. “We’ll probably set a few off at home,” Melissa said.
Down past Walnut Street, the Shah family was comfortably parked in a storefront door stoop: parents
Tarak and Hirali and 19-month-old daughter, Sankriti.
Tis was kind of her second parade – they’d been to one at the beach a year ago, but really her first that she would be watching. And she was looking forward to it.
“She likes fireworks. She likes people,” Tarak said.
They were disappointed there would be no fireworks downtown and were talking about where they could go after the parade. “It is what it is,” Tarak said. “At least we have a parade.”
Across town, the owner of Carolina BBQ – he goes by “Smoke” – was smoking up a feast of burgers and dogs for the residents of Marjorie Gardens.
Smoke sets up his operation at various sites around the area and does benefits. Hid did one at another housing community last July 4. “I like doing things for the community. I’m part of the community. The community’s important to me and I give back to the community.”
It was his idea to come to Marjorie Gardens, and resident Missy Campbell coordinated it for the residents to enjoy since there were no fireworks downtown.
Residents chipped in to cover the costs of the food. Kids over 12 paid just $6 a plate and dinner for the younger ones was free. Smoke followed it up with a small fireworks show.
Roxanne Smith, not a resident but a friend of Campbell’s, informed The Dominion Post about the cook-out, saying it’s important to know there are good people doing good things in the world. “It’s just a blessing.”
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
