Slippery Rock firefighters Chucky Ray left, Ryan Hanchosky and Kurt Reasner (not pictured) compete in Saturday's Battle of the Barrel during Prospect's Memorial Day festivities. Firefighters from Portersville, Prospect, Slippery Rock and members of Bill Errera Towing faced off in their annual Battle of the Barrel competition. Opposing teams used fire hoses to push a barrel down a zipline toward their opponent with the winner pushing the barrel farther toward their opponents side. Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company won the event. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle 05/28/22

PROSPECT — There was no shortage of spectators Saturday as hundreds lined Main Street on foot and in lawn chairs for the annual Memorial Day Parade and Community Days event.

“This is a wonderful event for our community,” Prospect Mayor Jim Butler said. “We have billed it in the past as the largest Memorial Day Parade in Butler County. It’s a great way to honor those who made sacrifices for our country. It’s just a wonderful small-town atmosphere.”

The parade began at 11 a.m., but the festivities began well before then.

Earl Durr leads a group of classic farm tractors in the Prospect Memorial Day parade Saturday. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle 05/28/22

The Marine Corps League kicked off the parade with a 21-gun salute, but shortly after, the Connoquenessing and Prospect fire departments left to respond to a motorcycle crash on Whitestown Road west of Eagle Hill Road.

The Slippery Rock High School marching band and the Syria Shriners Chanters provided music for the crowd as they marched down main street.

Other fire departments such as Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company, Unionville Fire Company and Portersville Fire Department remained in the parade and eventually made their way to the elementary school, where they would compete in the annual Battle of the Barrel.

“It’s like a tug of war without actually touching the barrel,” parade chair Jessica Parker said. “It’s two towing trucks, they rope wire together, put a barrel in the middle, and the guys use the fire hose and all the skills they get from training to put the water to the barrel. Whoever moves it across the line first wins.

“We are going to do a single elimination this year,” she said.

Members of the Shriners Syria Mortor Corps of Pittsburgh drive their mini roadster cars in Saturday's Memorial Day Parade in Prospect. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle 05/28/22

The eventual winner was the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company guided by Chief Ryan Hanchosky, Assistant Chief Kurt Reasner and Lt. Chuck Ray.

Food and craft vendors packed downtown with music played over the speaker system once the parade finished.

Local establishments such as Prospect Community Library and Prospect Area Preservation Society remained open to accommodate the crowd.

"This to me is true community," Mary Harmon, founder of the Prospect Area Preservation Society said. "What we have here is like revisiting history. Outside the vendors and participants change from year to year, but this is a positive thing for Prospect."

The preservation society building is under construction, but that did not stop Harmon from letting visitors take a look at some local history.

"Because we are in construction mode, we limit the times people can come in," Harmon said. "When the workers are in here with their equipment, we have to think safety first, but today is different."

Prospect has just over 1,000 residents, but the town felt twice as big with packed streets and children running around catching candy thrown by those in the parade.

The parade has been a staple of Prospect for more than 30 years, Butler said and he has yet to miss one as mayor.

“I can remember the first times coming down here,” Butler said. “It gets a little bigger and better every year. I give a lot of credit to Jessica (Parker). We held the parade last year and even because of COVID it still went off without a hitch.”