LETTER: Bel Air Independence Day Committee Extends Thanks

A lot of work went into the , and the parade chairman is appreciative of both behind the scenes efforts and community participation.

, parade chairman and vice president of the Bel Air Independence Day Committee, submitted a letter to the editor to express the committee's thanks.

Below is the unedited letter in its entirety:

July 5, 2012

To the Editor:

On behalf of the Bel Air Independence Day Committee, Inc., I wish to thank the greater Bel Air and Harford County community for its response to this year's parade. The weather was hot — maybe the hottest ever for a July 4, although as I recall, July 4, 1999 was pretty hot, too — and I was concerned about the effect this would have both on the parade participants, and of course on the spectators; we were also, of course, worried about the forecast of thunderstorms.

Well, as we now know, it was nothing but sunny, clear and HOT during the parade. I was amazed at the size of the crowd, considering the blazing and sweltering conditions, and I want to compliment the citizens of the Town of Bel Air and of Harford County for their behavior. The entire parade showed greater Bel Air to be the patriotic, fun and accessible family-oriented community it truly is.

Many people do not realize that the Bel Air July 4th Parade, as part of the overall Independence Day celebrations in Bel Air, is funded and run by an independent not-for-profit organization, the Bel Air Independence Day Committee, Inc., which has a vision of what the parade should be, and tries, to the best of its ability, to bring this vision to reality. Of course, the Committee relies on the contributions of individuals, businesses and municipalities -- contributions of time, effort, and funds.

In these challenging economic times, it is surely significant that our Committee has received such support from our community, beginning with our premier sponsor, Harford Mutual Insurance Company. Other major sponsors were Jones Junction, our Program Sponsor; Band Sponsors Balsamo, Stewart, Lutters & Ruth, CPAs; Buontempo Brothers/Tower Restaurant; The Festival at Bel Air Shopping Center; HAR-CO Maryland Federal Credit Union; Jones Junction; Klein’s ShopRite of Maryland; Oak Contracting, Inc.; Plaza Ford; PNC Bank; SAIC; TD Bank; and Triad Mechanical Services.

Sponsoring organizations overall include the Bel Air Auxiliary Police Unit, the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, Inc., the Town of Bel Air, and the Lions Club of Bel Air. The Committee also received contributions from dozens of individuals and businesses, as listed in our program and on our web site (http://www.belairjuly4.org).

I wish especially to thank the Town of Bel Air Commissioners and Town Administrator Christopher Schlehr; Police Chief Leo Matrangola; Deputy Chief Rick Peschek, the entire Bel Air Police Department, and Town of Bel Air Public Works personnel, led by Chuck Tracy and Mike Cornett, for their help. Joyce Oliver and Laura Stafford from the Town of Bel Air Administration helped a great deal as well, especially arranging for the use of the Bel Air Reckord Armory! Band Directors Mary Lynn Twentey of C. Milton Wright High School, Richard Hauf of Havre de Grace High School, Tony Domenico of Bel Air High School, Brendon Bickham of Edgewood High School, Lewis Blandon of Joppatowne High School, Ronald Burke of Patterson Mill High School, Craig Harvey of Fallston High School and Marc Bolden of John Carroll School also deserve high marks for turning their bands out in such great numbers and with such great spirit, in the midst of summer vacation, and on such an uncomfortably hot day!

To the many businesses, churches, clubs, individuals, organizations and groups who participated in the parade -- you truly exemplify what it means to be public-spirited, patriotic and community-minded. Your floats were wonderful; the decorated floats, cars and marching units were many and colorful; your patience and spirit of fun kept shining right until the end of the parade.

I want to also thank our elected public officials for their cooperation and spirited participation.

We all send our grateful appreciation to the residents and businesses on Bond Street, Rockspring Road, Ellendale Street and Gordon Street, who kindly allowed us to marshal the parade in front and all around them on during the afternoon and evening! Particular thanks goes to Klein's ShopRite, which gave us total use of their parking lots at their Main Street location and those of the ShopRite Gas-N-Go filling station from 4 pm until the parade was over. We also owe a great debt of gratitude to Harford Mutual Insurance Company, our Premier Sponsor, which allowed us to use its parking lots to marshal marching units and notable people, to the Bel Air Presbyterian Church, which let our beauty pageant representatives relax in air-conditioned comfort, and which provided food and drink to our parade marshals, and to the Aegis/Homestead Publishing, which allowed us to use its parking lots on West Pennsylvania Avenue for our equestrian staging.

Without all this support, we could not have held the parade.

It takes hours and hours of commitment and hard work from many volunteers to make a parade happen, and I need to send many, many thanks to our marvelous parade marshals: Matt Heidenreich, Shelley Reft, Aaron Cahall, John Cubbage, Vince Nohe, Jeff Dyer, Drew Dyer, Alex Krowzow, Clint Deriemaeker, Steve Pugh, Lindsay Leedy, Bill Smith, John McCutcheon, Dave Andrews, Lisa Williams, Jason Burkhouse, Dylan Burkhouse, Don Berk, Matt Siebold, Greg Cooper, Joseph Camello, Ron Eastridge, Jack Deal, David Williams, Anne Siebold, Beth Siebold, Janet Leedy, Mary Dean, Connie Rosser, Jeremiah Rosser and Olivia Rosser. Refreshments & Shuttles were handled by Hayden Ravert and William McCutcheon.

Mary Anne Williams did a wonderful job decorating the reviewing stand, helped out immeasurably by Charlie Walls and volunteers from the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company. Great job, guys! Communications were ably handled by Don Stewart. Thanks also to Boy Scout Troops 777 and 313, many of whose members were our marshals, and to the Fountain Green Swim Club, our parade sponsor and banner carriers.

Don Morrison did a wonderful job narrating the parade, assisted by our third-time-ever electronic parade narration communication team, which used text messaging to make sure the order of over 150 different parade units was relayed from the start point to the reviewing stand, exactly as the units deployed. The texting team included Kim Politz, Robert Duff, David Blum, Rachel Eibling and Perry Thompson.

Thanks also goes to the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, Inc., and especially to Assistant Chief Rick Davis, and to Charlie Walls, our parade Fire Companies Marshal. Our Parade Judges (who choose to remain anonymous) did fine work evaluating and ranking the various units in categories for performance and appearance awards and prizes. The complete list of parade prizes and awards is posted on our web site and is also sent to the Aegis for publication.

My vote for the "unsung hero" award this year goes to parade marshal Jack Deal, our Equestrian Marshal, whose tact and creative ideas made the experience of our equestrian participants run smoothly and easily. We also received tremendous support from Aberdeen Proving Grounds, whose new commander, General Robert Ferrell, attended our staging and marched with his color guard in the parade!

And finally, I’d like to personally thank Don Stewart, President of the Bel Air Independence Day Committee, Inc., for his hard work, support, sensitivity, organization, dedication, flexibility and thoughtfulness. As I said above, the Committee has a vision of what the parade should be. I've been privileged to have been the Parade Chairman now for 20 years -- but I know that without the visionary ideals of our President, Don Stewart, nothing of value would happen in Bel Air on July 4! Thanks, Don, for everything.

Yours truly,

Michael I . Blum

Vice President  & Parade Chairman

Bel Air Independence Day Committee, Inc.