Rain didn’t deter bike parade participants nor did it dampen the enthusiasm of community band members who participated in the 2013 version of the 4th of July Celebration at Morgan-Manning House in Brockport. It was an unusual “Old Fashioned Fourth of July” on the Morgan-Manning House lawn. Events went as planned, but only with the determination of participants, volunteers, and performers on an overcast and stormy day. The opening music of the Brockport High School Chorus ended as the drizzle started. Then, the Children’s Parade began and ended in an all-out downpour. There were over 50 children on tricycles or in strollers, with umbrella-bearing adults, moving on to Main Street with Brockport Police escort, then Union Street, Park Avenue, and returning to the carriage house off Spring Street.
“The parade participants were all troopers,” said Ron White, Western Monroe Historical Society board member and MC for the event. “How resilient children can be with patient parents, grandparents, and others teaching the responsibility of follow-through on a commitment, even in the face of an obstacle like adverse weather.”
Next, The Brockport Community Concert Band was scheduled at 11 a.m. The downpour had subsided as the band’s equipment truck pulled into the driveway, and band members arrived. Would the show go on? For a few tense moments band director Shawn Halquist talked with the event organizers. The band had premiered at the event last year, and returned again as the featured attraction. Suddenly, in a slight drizzle, band equipment was off-loaded into the parking lot – keeping the band off the wet lawn where it normally gathers. Audience chairs were moved from under the trees to the north lawn in front of the carriage house parking lot, now a concert stage.
A hazy, sometimes bright sun reigned over the concert of lively patriotic songs, show tunes, and rousing marches. A bed of daisies at the edge of the parking lot made a colorful foreground for over 65 band members from a variety of backgrounds: Nineteen current Brockport High School Band members; band alumni from 2000 through 2013; students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades; five Brockport district music faculty, one science faculty, and one retiree. The Heitz, Chibber, Briggs and Maar families had three or more members. And, there were several families with two members. The audience gave a standing ovation for the music from the heart of the community.
The event continued with a Brockport Big Band concert and music by the Montage Real T’s. An estimated 400 people attended through the day. About 100 people toured the Morgan-Manning House. Another 100, mostly children, enjoyed the “Cake Walk” where 20 home-baked cakes were given away. Food and refreshments were almost sold out when festivities ended.
“I am pleased with the amazing success of the day, given the weather,” said Alicia Fink, president of the Western Monroe Historical Society board which sponsored the free event.
“For such a soggy day, things turned out well,” event organizer and board VP Don Voorheis said, also praising everyone who braved the weather, and “the many volunteers who enjoy serving the community.”
