The Parade Will Have An Important Foreign Audience

By Steve Bigham

Seven foreign diplomats are expected to be on hand for Monday’s Labor Day Parade. But they won’t be marching. This group of Asian leaders wants to see something typically American.

And, as parade organizers point out, there is no better slice of Americana than Newtown’s 39th annual march through the center of town.

What could be more American that the Newtown High School marching band or the Pop Warner football team?

The seven men and women recently arrived in the United States after being invited by the US State Department for discussions on economic policy and trade. They include the manager of the Chamber of Commerce in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a professor of economics from India’s Nehru University, chief of the news bureau from Mumbai, India, Pakistan’s secretary of the economic advisory board, and a senator from the Fiji Islands.

After being briefed in Washington, DC, they are scheduled to arrive in New York on Sunday before taking a train to Westport early Monday morning. There, members of the International Hospitality Committee of Fairfield County will greet them and transport them to Newtown. They will be seated near the reviewing stand on Queen Street.

Secret service escorts will surround the diplomats.

Ruth Cohen of the International Hospitality Committee of Fairfield County said she has always heard about the parade and thought it would be an appropriate venue for the diplomats. Newtown’s Labor Day Parade is believed to be the biggest of its kind in the state.

“They want to see something typically American,” Mrs Cohen said. “We were looking for something for them to do on Labor Day so I though I’d send them up to you on Monday.”