Zelienople parade draws crowds for hours in heat, humidity
ZELIENOPLE — As they waited to join the Fourth of July procession Tuesday, July 4, on Main Street, the Star-Styled Dance Team practiced its routines a half-block away on the open road. By noon, they still were on North High Street, following the winding queue of other children’s dance and sports teams, antique cars and entertainers that had been there for hours on a muggy afternoon that reached a humidity point of nearly 90%.
Meghan Fatta, mother of Aubriella and Julianna who are members of the dance team, said the girls practiced nine hours for the event. They were most excited to get together with their friends from the dance studio, she said.
“It’s something fun to do on the Fourth of July morning,” Meghan Fatta said.
On Main Street, the crowded noise of fire sirens, applause and cheers seemingly dissipated as the Syria Shrine Highlanders Pipes and Drums band, all clad in tartan, began to play. Earlier, brush trucks and EMS vehicles from Harmony, Cranberry Township, Callery and Connoquenessing drove through as other local fixtures, such as the Zelienople Area Public Library, Marburger Farm Dairy and Boy Scout troops joined in, and children reached for candy tossed from truck windows.
“It just gets bigger and better,” said Rotarian Jim Moser. “Kids running and jumping — I just love it.”
Moser recalled watching a short film of Zelienople’s Fourth of July Parade from its early days. The parade started in the 1940s, he said.
According to Moser, the Rotary Board took over as event organizers and volunteers 25 years ago.
There’s no need for the board to advertise the parade, he said.
“After 80 years, they just show up,” he said.
Amid the bustle, Moser said he wasn’t sure how many organizations were represented in the parade — just that it was crowded. As some left the event, others still were waiting to make an appearance.
Dimitri Matuscak, Charlotte Acosta and Joseph Gaudet, Junior ROTC members at Seneca Valley High School and parade participants, walked off Main Street around noon, joining another group of JROTC representatives in a shadier spot.
School might be out for the summer, but for these three high schoolers, there was no sleeping in on the Fourth of July. The three have a summer packed with activities from community service to ropes courses.
The opportunity to grow her leadership skills before she joins the Navy is what motivated Charlotte to join JROTC, she said. For Dimitri, a long-standing Boy Scout, the organization was a way to take community service to the next level, he said.
“It just kind of became like a little family,” Joseph said.
The group planned to get hot dogs together after the parade, Charlotte said.
For the rest of the day, the group will get a chance to relax: Joseph, still reeling from the hot weather, said he will unwind at home, and Dimitri said he will enjoy a neighborhood cookout.
“I was gonna go see some fireworks,” Charlotte said.
