Parade Fun — Members of the Rainbow of Hope Cancer Support Group (photo above) ride on one of the parade's commercial floats during the annual July 4 parade, held last Saturday in Sparta. In the photo at left, the Alleghany Jubilee Dancers show off their dance moves to the tune of "Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train" during a scheduled parade stop in front of the Alleghany County Courthouse.

Parade enjoys good participation

Predictions of rainy weather failed to materialize, helping a sizeable crowd enjoy the annual Fourth of July Parade last Saturday in Sparta. The Sparta Revitalization Committee again organized the event this year. SRC Treasurer Sandy Rost said at least 50 entries pre-registered or registered the morning of the event.

"We had a great turnout; we had a good crowd and the weather was good," said Rost. "We had a great many cars, too, thanks in part to the cruise-in club, and I thought one other good thing was that we had the Alleghany Jubilee dancers who stopped along the route and performed."

The parade began at Sparta Elementary School at 11 a.m. and traveled down Main Street to the Charleston Forge building on Blue Ridge Street. Bringing up the rear were two Sparta Police Department officers on horseback.

"The police this year, thanks to two officers, asked if they could be the exit escort on horseback instead of in a car," said Rost. "So we had a police escort on horseback for the first time I think….We had a lot of horses, too."

SRC President Bob Bamberg said he was pleased with the turnout. "I was pleased with the number of participants that we had," said Bamberg. "We had several groups that did elaborate homemade floats. We had a real car show from all of our cruisers.

"We had a good crowd and a great parade. We tried to stop the parade for performances and it ended getting a little stretched out," he added. "We'll try to fine tune that next time."

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