Plans unfold for annual Fourth of July parade

The Town of Stanardsville’s Fourth of July parade keeps getting bigger and better.
For one thing, says organizer Beth Borntrager, “it’s not the Fourth of July Parade this year; it’s the Fourth of July Festivities.“
The parade will be happening, of course.
At 10 a.m. sharp on Saturday, July 4, it will begin winding its way out of the Nathanael Greene Elementary School parking lot.
Between 25 and 30 units will march, ride and drive past Mayor Gary Lowe, announcing them all from the steps of Herring Auction & Realty. They will take a right on Blakey Avenue beside the Lafayette Inn, and come to a halt at William Monroe High School.
The American Legionnaires from Greene’s Post 128 will be among them. So will several Brownie and Girl Scout troops, Jim Crawford Antique Autos, the Greene County Homeschoolers, Peggy Moyers as Miss Liberty, the Stanardsville Reenactment Group and Habitat for Humanity.
.All three volunteer fire departments - Dyke, Ruckersville and Stanardsville - are parading, along with the Greene County Rescue Squad.
New to the parade this year will be veterans riding in a supply truck in recognition of the Vietnam Foundation Museum in Ruckersville.
“I’ve invited them to set the truck up afterward so people can look at it,“ says Borntrager. “And I’ve invited all the fire companies and the Rescue Squad to do the same … I want the festivities to have a hometown feel.“
American flags are going to be handed out before the parade begins and copies of the Declaration of Independence will be handed out after it does. As it winds to its end, Lowe will invite everybody lining the streets to fall in and march on to Court House Square for a ceremony of remembrance followed by a whole lot of fun.
The flag will be raised in front of the courthouse, the Pledge of Allegiance said, the National Anthem sung and the Declaration of Independence read, according to There, says Roy Dye, executive director of Stanardsville Area Revitalization (*STAR*).
And then there will be music: “Carl and Priscilla Schmitt will lead (the) singing patriotic songs,“ says Dye. “The Emmanuel Gospel Singers (will perform, as will) George Kennedy,  Judie Pagter (North and Son) … and others.
But that’s hardly all, says Borntrager: “We’re going to have more musicians than anything else,“ she says.
“Anything else” includes a bazaar filled with goods by local artisans and crafters: quilts, birdhouses, pottery, afghans and more. There will be plenty to eat. The Stanardsville United Methodist Church, abutting Courthouse Square, will be putting on a BBQ fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. The Lafayette Inn will be serving its own holiday fare, and so will the Little Shop on Main Street.
Both the Greene County Historical Society Museum, located in the old jail next to the courthouse, and the Native American Museum, tucked away in a log cabin off Main Street, will be open to the public.
But that may not be all: anyone who wants to participate but has not already registered can still do so says Borntrager.
“There is a final parade meeting Thursday, July 2 at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall,“ she says. “If they want to be in the parade, they need to be there.“
The parade is sponsored by the Town of Stanardsville, with help from (*STAR*). The Greene County Historical Society is contributing prizes for winning floats. They are to be awarded to the top three floats based on themes of patriotism, historical significance, and enthusiasm.