Annual Fireman's Parade excites, delights, as always
SAXONBURG — The parade must go on. That was the sentiment at the annual Fireman's Parade Thursday evening when the Saxonburg Ambulance received a call and there was a drizzle falling on hundreds of excited spectators.
So while the Ambulance left the parade just as it was getting under way at 6:30 p.m., the rest of the 88 marching units started their procession down Main Street.
For a place like Saxonburg, there's a certain magic to the parade, said Cameron Lewis, carnival co-chairman.
“In a small town, a big parade like this is kind of exciting,” he said. That's why there's typically a consistent turnout with families who have been coming to the parade for years and years.
One family watching the parade on Thursday night boasts four generations of support for the parade, alongside current firefighter Jeff Dorinsky and previous firefighter Jeffrey Riemer.
Dorinsky, 38, has been with the Saxonburg department for 20 years, he said, and his two children, Addison and Miley, have been raised with the parade.
Three-year-old Addison had wide-eyed excitement in anticipation for the candy she was waiting to be thrown on Thursday night.
Chase and Carleigh Smith, 5 and 8 years old — the cousins of Addison and Miley — have been to the parade almost every year of their lives.
For Carleigh, the best part of the parade is seeing the firefighters.
But Chase has priorities more in line with Addison's: the real magic of the parade is the candy.
Although Chase wasn't equipped with a large grocery bag like other children at the parade, he insisted everything would be just fine. He has pockets after all.
“I have pockets,” he said before the parade, keeping a serious watchful eye on the horizon of Main Street. “And my mom has big pockets.”
Riemer, 62, worked for the Saxonburg fire department from 1976 to 1979, he said. And he went to the parades long before that: “I remember being here as a kid,” he said.
The elders of the four-generation family, including Riemer, his wife, Traci, and Jean McClure said part of the interesting thing about being such lifelong spectators of the parade is seeing how the area changed.For Riemer, one thing that stands out is how Main Street is no longer brick, he said, a thing of the past that he remembers himself.Standing in front of 277 W. Main St., now a law office, the Riemers and McClure recalled when the building housed a general store that sold ice cream.But the parade remains a family gathering for the clan year after year.“This is tradition,” Traci Riemer said.The parade winners are:- Best brush truck — Buffalo Twp.- Best ambulance — Cranberry Twp.- Best rescue — Pine Creek (Brookville, Pa.)- Best engine — North Hampton- Best tanker — South Buffalo- Best aerial — Richland Twp.- Best antique — Herman- Best specialized — Arnold #2- Judges choice — Middlesex Twp.- Furthest distance — Fairview (Ross Twp.)
