Kelly Hogwood, a Philadelphia native, finally got to bring her grandchildren to the parade she has told them about in glowing terms for years.
“We talk about it all the time,” she said from a spot they staked out at the southwest corner of Evans and Cleveland avenues in Wyomissing before Friday morning’s parade. “It’s one of the best parades. They were super excited.”
The night before, she took the youngsters on a driving tour of the borough to see all of the homes decorated in bunting and the Stars and Stripes, among other patriotic adornments.
“They couldn’t believe how many homes were decorated,” Hogwood said.
For Hogwood, the Fourth of July parade and festivities are a reflection of the community cohesiveness she yearned for when she left the big city.
“Growing up, you knew all your neighbors’ names,” she said. “It got the point where there was so much movement you didn’t know anyone. Here, it seems like people know their neighbors.”
Curb space was at a premium along the parade route, especially on Cleveland Avenue approaching Evans Avenue, where the procession pivots to begin the home stretch to the Stone House along Wyomissing Creek.
For the ninth year, Andrew and Carly Kraft hosted a Fourth of July party for relatives and friends at their home in the 1500 block of Cleveland.
“This is our day,” Andrews said.
“It’s like Christmas,” Carly chimed in. “We probably have 60 people here.”
Guests sat in folding lawn chairs along the edge curb. A bouncy house occupied most of the front lawn.
Among the guests were their friends Bill and Kelly Keim of Shillington.
The Krafts look forward each year to seeing how decked out Bill Keim will be for the big day.
This year’s ensemble, from his straw hat to his shorts, was nearly 100% stars and stripes and patriotic symbols. It was also functional: Around his waist was a fanny pack with a pair of cupholders bracketing the image of a bald eagle.
“Just trying to be fun and celebrate America,” Bill said.
All of the above was fitting with the theme of this year’s Wyomissing Independence Day Parade & Celebration: “Red, White, and You!”
Up and down the shade-tree-lined parade route, residents hosted front-yard cookouts, with some hosts putting up tent canopies and tables for the comfort of their guests.
As for the parade, it had a little of everything, including music from Dixieland to Django jazz ensembles to pipe-and-drum corps to Mummers string bands.
The wailing of bagpipes of Hawk Mountain Highlanders announced the start of the parade behind the color guard of Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.
Not far behind the men in kilts, the Greater Kensington String Band, with members’ outlandish Mummers costumes that included hats shaped like flames, strutted down Cleveland, which was lined four-deep with spectators.
A squad of World War II infantrymen, a ladder truck from the West Reading Fire Department and Western Berks Ambulance vehicle provided an interlude before the brass instruments announced the approaching Reading Buccaneers Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps.
Bucs’ rendition of “America the Beautiful” drew applause as they headed into the turn.
The Reading Fightin Phils’ Crazy Hotdog Vendor” got things fired up when he tossed hotdogs from a pickup truck. Other mascots, including Screwball, greeted spectators on foot or aboard a fleet of vehicles provided by Savage 61.
Hamilton Celtic Pip & Drum performed “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” before Boy Scouts Troop 413, Wyomissing, distributed candy.
A float carrying representatives of the Wyomissing High School Class of 1965 displayed an enlarged black-and-white class photo.
A sextet called the Happy Dutchmen, performing aboard a float, demonstrated its range with “Yankee Doodle Dandy” followed by the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” which had spectators swaying and toe-tapping.
Source: Berkshire mont