'Community Pride' Underlies Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade

About 100 entrants are signed up for this year's Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, a tribute to "community pride" that kicks off 10 a.m. July 4 at the corner of Lumsden Road and Parsons Avenue.

It's a return to tradition for the parade deeply rooted in town lore, with reports of the parade’s age varying by a year or so.

One thing is certain: The parade is older than 50 years (54 or 55, depending on who you talk to and which historical newspaper clips they cite) and it's a solid bet that most folks prefer the morning parade to the later-day parade, which last year was tested. That parade started at the intersection of Providence Road and the Brandon Expressway, turning east on Oakfield Drive.

This year's route -- the traditional route -- starts with a grand sweep at the corner of Lumsden Road and Parsons Avenue, advancing with a turn west on Robertson Street and a final leg across Kings Avenue.

This year's theme is "Community Pride" and along the route examples of that pride abound.

The route passes little league fields; the All Persons Playground, built by Brandon Rotarians in collaboration with Hillsborough County parks officials; All Children's Specialty Care Center; Brandon Regional Hospital; Brandon Regional Library; Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association; and Campbell's Dairyland, with a storefront reminiscent of its first days in Brandon in the 1960's.

"I'm just glad to have a small part in helping with people's family traditions," said this year's parade chair, Marie Cain.

"The parade gets the whole community together, to support and enjoy the effort for the kids," said parade volunteer and former chair, Peggs Stuart. "The parade is for kids and it always will be for the kids, as long as I am around."

The parade is presented each year by the Community Roundtable, founded by the Roundtable Charities of Greater Brandon as the Presidents Roundtable. The umbrella group for non-profit organizations is responsible also for the annual "Best Dad" contest and the honorary mayor of Brandon charity campaign.

Both recipients ride in the parade along with representatives of the Non-Profit Organization of the Year and the Alice B. Tompkins Community Service Award designee, which this year is Sandy Pullinger.

This is the second year the non-profit organization award has been conferred; the first year it went to the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO); this year it goes to Center Place, which along with the Brandon Regional Library is housed in the Sandy Rodriguez Center, which can be seen across the lake on Parsons Avenue.

Ending her one-year term as honorary mayor of Brandon is Lisa Rodriguez; the Sandy Rodriguez Center was named for her husband posthumously.

Rodriguez ran her charity campaign on behalf of the Center Place, which she and her husband had helped to launch. The new mayor will be announced the morning of the Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, at the law offices of B. Lee Elam, which sits at the corner where the parade commences.

This race will be won by the candidate who raises the most money for her respective charities. In the race is Barbara Schwabe, sponsored by Center Place, and Cami Gibertini, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon.