Many Made The Parade A Success

To the Editor:

On a day that appeared to mimic the washout of 2002, The Newtown Labor Day Parade 2003 once again stepped off at 10 am to celebrate the youth of Newtown. On behalf of the Labor Day Parade Committee, we would like to thank all those who supported the parade and endured another rainy day. The rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of the parade participants or the people lining the parade route, eager to get a glimpse of family or friends marching. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people and establishments that contribute year after year to help our town have one of the biggest and best Labor Day parades in New England.

To Dunkin’ Donuts for the never-ending supply of coffee and doughnuts, to Nick from Newtown Exxon for the tremendous job with the lower grandstand (the tent was most appreciated), Hilario’s for providing the flatbed for the upper grandstand and the decorations, Chuck Hull for providing the trailer that pulled the parade committee and judges and also for the hay bales and beautiful mums. To Denise Buckley and Patti Page for organizing the shuttle buses (this made a world of difference this year), the street directors for keeping “every one in line,” Newtown Signs for the signs that were used for the judges and the grand marshal’s float, Bagels Delight for the great spread and Helium Plus for the donation of helium for the balloons to decorate our grandstand. We would also like to thank our terrific emcees who year after year help to make the parade so much more enjoyable: Mike Giarrantano, MaryAnn Murtha, John Klopfenstein, and Richard Coopersmith. Your knowledge and humor add so much to this day. Thank you also to our wonderful judges, hopefully, you were kept happy and fed and also had a great time. We were honored to have Roseanne Loring and Debbie Richardson representing Newtown Youth Services. Ladies, you looked great! A special thanks to RER Motor City for the use of their “mules” to ferry committee members and participants around prior to the parade stepping off. We would also like to thank the members of Newtown Youth Services who distributed parade programs while walking the parade route. In this context, a special thank you to the business community of Newtown for their support by advertising in the Parade Program. A huge debt of gratitude goes out to Jeff Shpunt who not only designed our website but also worked out the kinks and helps to keep it updated. We could not have moved into the 21st Century without you. We are also indebted to our great local newspaper, The Bee, for supporting us in so many ways, in particular by helping to keep the donations flowing with the weekly coupon.

There are so many people who contribute in one way or another to help make the parade the successful and fun event it is. We thank them for everything and hope for their continued support in the future.

Sincerely,

Brian Amey for the

Newtown Labor Day Parade Committee

18 Willow Brook Lane, Newtown                             October 3, 2003