Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 28, 1995 TAG: 9505300081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
But first they had to drive through the Shawsville community parade, blending in with the Go Karts, old-time cars and fire engines inching along U.S. 460.
"We played `Here Comes the Bride' when we walked by the church, but I don't know if they heard us," said Tom Dunkenberger Jr. of nearby Elliston, one of a dozen residents who played in the marching kazoo band.
"They used to have the parade on the Fourth of July," said Womack's sister, Sissy Close, standing by the church in a royal blue satin bridesmaid dress. "We didn't know it was moved until after the wedding invitations were sent out, but [Womack] didn't care. She said, `I'll be long gone by then.'''
"At least they were in the parade," said an unidentified wedding usher as he walked out of the church. "They'll always remember that."
The community will remember Saturday, too. It's the first-ever Memorial Day parade in Shawsville - population about 1,200. A glut of parades on the July 4 weekend prompted organizers to switch to an earlier date.
The new schedule - and the threat of rain - kept some folk at home, but those who showed up Saturday made the most of the day.
Clara Pruitt and several other Meadowbrook Retirement Home residents viewed the parade from their wheelchairs along U.S. 460. Children clutching blue and red helium balloons ran alongside the Elliston Fire Engine. Mothers helped their kids grab for candy - most of it given out by politicians soliciting support for the upcoming elections.
The Army National Guard led the procession, walking stiff and stone-faced, carrying various flags. The Shawsville High and Middle School band played parade music, and three children zoomed by in homemade carts.
The Alley Country Store junior baseball team drove by in a pickup truck, the members waving to neighbors, parents and friends.
State Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, walked along the road, accompanied by his 6-year-old grandson, Madison Tyler Marye. The little Marye toted a placard showing his support for his grandfather.
"I had him doing the heavy work, but then he got more interested in the candy than anything else," Marye said, ruffling Tyler's hair.
Seven-year-old Rashod Hickman and his 9-year-old cousin, Paul Hickman, scrambled for candy beside the road, sharing it with their younger brothers and grandmother Ruth Brown of Shawsville.
"I like the part when they throw out all the candy," Rashod said, opening his cupped hands to reveal an assortment of butterscotch candies, Sweetarts and mints.
In 22 minutes - before most kids could get the wrappers off their candy - the parade was over. While its goal was to remember those lost in long-gone wars, the event resembled a family reunion more than anything else. It was an excuse for neighbors to get together, share stories and eat pie. It was a day when children could perform ballets, ride bicycles covered in red, white and blue crepe paper, run wild on the high school's tidy football field and fall asleep in the car on the way home.
It was Memorial Day weekend in Shawsville, Virginia.
by CNB