A Grand 4th of July Parade in Scottsville, VA !

We were watching the local news the evening of July 3^rd on a Charlotteville TV Station when a 4^th of July activity roundup included the next morning's 4^th parade in tiny Scottsville, Va, about 30 miles away.  They said in the past, the parade had lasted about one hour and included just about anything normally seen in parades.

Waiting for the Parade to start!

Back where we lived in Novato in Northern California, Lin was President of the Downtown Merchants Association and learned that Novato had 4^th of July parades for at least 10 years in the early 1900s but quit in 1922.  This seemed like a great activity for Novato in northern Marin County to reinvent, despite a competitive 4^th parade in a central Marin County city that drew large crowds.  A Parade Committee was formed, the City came on board with donated police services, traffic signage, a free parade permit and the all-important liability insurance rider that made it possible. The local paper began a publicity campaign that brought us an amazing number of parade entrants.  The whole town turned out and lined the streets on the 4^th, with a couple newspaper photographers, a TV station camera crew and we were on the map!  Our first Parade ran well over an hour!  The whole Parade Committee and the City couldn't wait to do it again and it's still going strong today!  So Lin and Maryke are still real parade aficionados! 

With that background, back to Scottsville!  This is a very small town of 566 population as of the 2010 census!  The town is located on the horseshoe bend of the James River and is close to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It has a Historic District composed of 153 buildings of all types having historic significance.  It's close to three different Virginia counties with a lot more population!

Scottsville's 4^th Parade is held on a one mile stretch of Route 20 which, of course, is closed for the occasion. Oddly enough, this is the only 4^th parade in the whole area so traffic was heavy and lots of police were on hand.  Parking was the next problem but we spotted a large empty lot with a flat front side that sloped uphill pretty steeply!  We drove in and fortunately, backed into a level grassy space. Soon, the lot was full and people were still parking up 45 degree slopes!  Route 20, for the 3-4 blocks that we could see, was nearly full of spectators on both sides!  Many more were coming in. The parade started exactly on time—9 AM sharp---with the customary wail of fire engine sirens and a lot of excited kids!

The Scottsville Parade was amazing with a total of at least 113 entries and running about 70 minutes long! There were 26 fire engines, ambulances and other first responder vehicles plus a new type we'd never seen before—a Zombie Response Vehicle Jeep with lights and siren!  Three color guards, a large bagpipe band, a Revolutionary War group firing their muskets with the crowd applauding, a large Civil War-attired group firing their rifles with crowd whooping and applauding, several veteran's group marched or rode past, all rating applause from the spectators!

Revolutionary soldiers shooting their muskets

Civil War re-enactors

The Camp Followers

Many volunteer military groups

Color Guards

An enthusiastic bagpipe band provided the music!

There were at least 25 floats for many groups and 6 more floats carrying queens and their courts for various area festivals, 5 different radio stations with speakers blaring and 11 vehicles promoting politicians, particularly Sheriff’s candidates! 

There was a very popular large Shriners entry with 5 (including 1 disabled) fast little funny cars that race around in circles accompanied by an old decorated Willy’s pickup with who else but Elvis smiling and pointing thumb and index finger - like Elvis did - to the crowd along the way!

The crowd here really liked the animal entries, especially the very tame small pony that all the kids ran out to pet!  There was a super team of 4 large Clydesdale horses pulling a big wagon similar to the Budweiser team and wagon we've seen in other parades.  At least 4 other horse teams and wagons or buggies came past the crowd to applause!

We counted 10 local commercial entries including a beautiful old pickup with varnished wood slat bed  sides from a local hardware store. One great looking semi tractor came past but didn't have an ID sign. Strangely, there was very little farm equipment, a John Deere tractor by itself and another John Deere tractor pulling a float.  3 Churches had entries, mostly floats.  4 monster trucks came by with big cheers and applause from the audience!  We lost count of classic or old cars but think there were 8 or 10.  There were at least 5 hot rods, 2 Harleys and a bus!

A big favorite was a very inquisitive large bloodhound who came up to almost everyone on our side of the street seeming to be looking for food!  Everyone got a good doggie fix!  A couple more Scottsville Volunteer Fire units brought up the rear.  Wow!  What a Parade!

Scottsville's Parade is organized by the Scottsville Volunteer Fire Department and is known throughout the Shenandoah Valley as the best parade!  After the parade, there are activities all day at Dorrier Park with many vendors, music from 6-9 PM then fireworks at dusk!  Some of the big cities could take a lesson from the great spirit of Scottsville!  If you're anywhere in the vicinity on the 4^th, Scottsville is definitely the place to be!