The Parade Marches On

After 42 years of marching from the head of Main Street to the heart of Queen Street, one would think Newtown’s famous Labor Day Parade would be able to run itself for another several decades on sheer momentum. When you get that many bands, floats, strutting horses, vintage cars, fire trucks, politicians, skateboarders, and balloon vendors all heading in one direction, we’re surprised each year that the huge carnival in motion actually manages to make the turn at Glover Avenue.

A severe lack of funds threatened for a time last month to stop the parade dead in its tracks, but a timely surge in contributions got things back on track so that once again, on Labor Day, the parade will step off at 10 am sharp.

When a town changes as rapidly as Newtown has in the past ten years, it is often difficult to maintain a sense of its identity. With so many new families coming to town each year and so many old familiar friends moving on to other places, Newtown more than lives up to its name year after year. We use the Labor Day Parade as one reliable measure of what we have become as a town in the preceding 12 months. As unsettling as rapid change can be, we always leave the parade feeling well grounded, knowing a little more about our community and having a better sense of where it might be going.

This year it may seem as though the community is going to dogs because of the contingent of canines near the head of the parade. But the opposite is true. The Bee’s King and Queen Dog contest winners (and their royal court of runners-up) deserve a warm round of applause from parade spectators this year. These, the town’s top dogs, are directly responsible for generating well over 57,000 votes at 25 cents each, raising more than $14,500 for four worthy causes: the Spay and Neuter Association of Newtown, Canine Advocates of Newtown, The Newtown Fund, and the town’s tercentennial celebration. Like the parade itself, the dog contest is yet another example of how Newtowners get together to have some fun and come away with a better community.

Don’t miss the parade this year, and be sure to give the dogs a rousing cheer.