Chairwoman: 'It Will Not Rain on Our Parade'

Mother Nature has not been kind so far to Dundalk's Fourth of July celebration.

A freak thunderstorm with wind gusts as strong as 70 miles per hour on June 29 caused significant damage to Heritage Park, stages and sound equipment and vendors' booths, which delayed the Saturday opening of Heritage Fair by three hours and forced the cancellation of several band performances.

With fireworks and Dundalk's 78th annual parade set for Wednesday, the weather again appears to be playing a vital role.

Storms are expected to hit central Maryland early Tuesday evening.

Asked about the cancellation process for Wednesday morning should storms interfere with the staging of the procession, parade chairwoman Pat Herman confidently said the parade would be held.

"It will not rain on our parade," she told Patch Tuesday. "And it's such a hard call—just because it's raining at 6:30 a.m. doesn't mean it will still be raining at 8."

Because the parade starts so early (at 8:15 a.m.), and because spectators begin staking out their viewing spaces much earlier than that, there is no easy or routine way to get word out, should the parade have to be cancelled, Herman said.

She encourages people to use common sense and not go out in dangerous conditions.

Should weather be severe enough to interfere with the parade, it will be cancelled. There will be no rain date.

If storms interfere with Wednesday night's fireworks display, scheduled at about 9:15 p.m., the rain date is Friday, July 6, same time, same place—Grange Elementary School/North Point Government Center.