Rain Can't Stop Montco Man from Flash Mob Marriage Proposal

Tropical rain couldn't wash away love.

Love reigned over Lansdale residents Ray Liberto and Tara McNally Friday evening in Lansdale Borough—and hundreds of onlookers were witness to it.

Liberto proposed to McNally, his girlfriend of nearly three years, on a closed-off Wood Street outside Molly Maguire's—complete with a flash mob dancing to Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" and an Aaron "Dr. Drill" Oberst fitness boot camp workout decoy demo.

It all began with the local U.S. Army color guard and a bagpiper rounding the corner of Madison and Wood streets at 7 p.m. Close behind were Dr. Drill's select group of trainees, who demonstrated a typical Dr. Drill Instructor Program

Onlookers packed both sides of Wood Street and huddled under umbrellas to watch the demo, which was really a decoy to get McNally and her family and friends outside.

Then, small groups of young children in red shirts began dancing out of nowhere to the aforementioned Bruno Mars song—McNally and Liberto's favorite.

Soon, people donned in green shirts jumped in and performed their choreographed and practiced routine; some of the dancers were McNally's own friends and family members, including her brother Brendan McNally and Miss Pennsylvania U.S.A. 1988 Susan Gray Smith.

In the midst of the flash mob, other friends and family approached McNally and handed her flower after flower. She reciprocated with tear after tear.

Suddenly, the dancers lined up in the middle of Wood Street, and one by one, they moved out of the way. 

There, at the end, was the reveal: a gleaming Liberto, who ran up to McNally, pulled out the ring and bent down on one knee.

She said yes.

"This is insane," said McNally after the proposal. "I don't even think I can actually remember everything that happened. Everything is a big blur right now."

McNally had a feeling something was up when she saw Liberto's mom standing next to her.

"I wasn't entirely sure," she said.

McNally said the whole spectacle was "typical Ray."

"This is the best guy I could ever want in my life," she said. "This was totally his style. I didn't think he'd do it here; I thought at Beerfest. This is better."

McNally said she forgave her fiance for dragging her out in the rain.

"I was so mad. I was like, 'Why would you make me stand in the rain and watch a drill thing?' I'm like, 'I can watch it upstairs. We don't need to be downstairs.'"

McNally knew it was true love within the first two months of her and Liberto dating.

"I knew it was going to happen," she said. "Every single one of our friends, coworkers, everyone in Lansdale showed up. It's amazing."

Molly Maguire's holds a special place in the lifelines of Liberto and McNally—it was there where they were first introduced three years ago by a mutual friend.

"Two years ago, I knew I was going to marry her," Liberto said. "We started talking about it maybe a month ago."

"She is the most caring person I have ever met in my life, about animals and people," Liberto said. "She's a very good-hearted person."

Liberto spent the past seven months planning for Friday's proposal. 

He wanted to do it inside Molly Maguire's, complete with bagpipers and Irish dancers, he said. 

Plans morphed into something more spectacular upon seeing Dr. Drill's flash mob at Montgomery Mall this year.

"When I saw that, I talked to him and we worked on this together," Liberto said. "Then, Keith (Heffintrayer) at Patch said I should talk to the Army color guard. Everything just flowed: the color guard, Dr. Drill and then the dance company comes in."

Had the rain not dampened the area Friday, there would have been one additional feature to heighten the passion—a violinist playing in the middle of the street to usher in the dancers.

"It all worked out," Liberto said. "The rain added a bit of flavor. We were hoping for First Friday and all the people out here, but I think it's pretty epic."

Now that it is all said and done, Liberto isn't so emotionally drained anymore from seven months of planning and weeks of stressing about the weather.

"Do we do it outside? Do we do it inside? I was worried about lightning and everyone's safety," said the former Marine. "I was ready to do it inside Molly's, but everybody sent emails saying, 'Let's do it in the rain.'"

McNally's sister, Shannon McNally, of Upper Gwynedd, said Liberto is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to her sister and her family.

"It was very, very hard to keep it a secret," Shannon McNally said. "As soon as she heard the music, she started crying and said, 'He's going to propose.' I said, 'No, but he did do something special.' She didn't buy it."

McNally's mom, Sharon, of Upper Gwynedd, a cafeteria worker at Oak Park Elementary, said she and her family are so happy that Ray and Tara are together.

"She got a darn good guy. He's one of a kind," she said. "We're very lucky, and he's very lucky to get the McNally family." 

Aside from helping her soon-to-be husband run Lansdale Beerfest in two weeks alongside other Lansdale Area Fundraising Society co-founders and volunteers, McNally will be spending the rest of her summer awash in wedding plans.

But don't expect anything wild.

"It's going to be a low key thing," McNally said. "This was the most high key thing ever. We'll go off to do a destination thing."

The rest is, as they say, happily ever after.

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