More parade details given at SRC meeting

Some details of the upcoming Fourth of July parade took shape during last week's Sparta Revitalization Committee meeting.

The parade is scheduled for Saturday, July 6 at 11 a.m. The cavalcade will make its way through downtown Sparta via Main Street, beginning at Sparta Elementary School and marching to Trojan Village Shopping Center. The SRC, which organizes the parade, is encouraging participation of various kinds.

During the committee's June 17 meeting, Vice President Sandy Carter, who also chairs the SRC's promotions subcommittee, said ribbons will be awarded for the best homemade float, as well as to the best-costumed walkers in the parade.

Individuals are invited to march dressed in keeping with the theme "Proud to Be an American."

Merchants will be asked to decorate their storefronts, and ribbons will be awarded for those judged best in that effort.

Main Street Coordinator Barbara Lucier said Lee White of United Faith Church has indicated that church will be a very visible part of the parade.

"This year Lee White said they don't want to seem like they're taking it over, but they will have seven floats in the parade," said Lucier. One of those floats will commemorate the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Another will feature a replica of the World Trade Center towers. Musicians will be included, with "Taps" played. "They are going all out," she said.

State Sen. Virginia Foxx and Congressional candidate David Caldwell plan to ride in the parade, Lucier added.

Three commercial floats have been lined up, Carter said. The parade will also feature the Kazim Temple Hillbillies, along with lawnmowers and animals. Grand marshals are World War II veterans Walter Bell and Wanda Reeves Wills.

Alleghany High School's top two graduates from the class of 2002 are slated to march in the parade as well. "I think this is the first year the valedictorian and salutatorian will be in the parade. We seem to always ask beauty queens, but we never invite people that are smart," Carter quipped.

SRC President Sandy Rost said artist Kathi Sell, who also teaches art at Sparta School, will prepare a lead banner for the parade. "What we don't have is a lot of music, and we're still working on that," Rost said.

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