David and I have have both posted about Fallen Hero, Sgt. Michael Stokely, many times over the course of the past year. Mike Stokely was from my hometown of Loganville, Georgia. Before he was killed in action in Iraq on August 16, 2005, I never knew him or his family. Heck, for that matter, I'd never even heard his name before then. Thru a series of coincidences, my hubby and I got to know his father. Waaaay back in February of 2006, Mr. Stokely emailed me and said (my paraphrase), "Hey, did you know that Loganville is planning it's first-ever Fourth of July Parade in honor of Mike?" I hadn't known about it, but wanted to get involved. He pointed me in the right direction and in late February or very early March, I attended my first meeting of the Loganville Parade Committee. My job was media relations - writing up press releases and such. As far as committee members go, I'm probably the one that did the least - between work, a job change, a few drawn-out personal crises and my card drives for troops, I did not have a whole lot of extra time. But I helped where I could and was very excited to even have a teensy-tiny part of the process!The parade itself was fabulous. We had between 5,000 and 8,000 people in attendance, and so many people participating in the parade that the whole thing took close to an hour! In addition to the parade, we had vendor booths - approximately 40 or so - of food, crafts, and the like. We had a kids' area with bounce houses, sponge toss/baseball pitching games, face painting, etc -- all free.
The parade started off with the American Legion Color Guard. A twelve-year-old musical genius sang the National Anthem... I swear she should be the next American Idol from Georgia - she was INCREDIBLE. Following that was the traditional "riderless horse," complete with boots turned backwards in the stirrups, symbolizing Mike Stokely and all who have given their lives for our country. After this came the Grand Marshalls -- who, of course, were the Stokely Family and some soldiers from our 48th Brigade.
Pictures of the parade can be seen by clicking HERE. I personally did not get to see the parade. In fact, nobody on the Parade Committee (except for our announcer!) got to see the parade! We were busy working... I was in a back parking lot, directing traffic. I got to see bits and pieces of the parade as they came through, and I waved them on in the direction they needed to go. Not quite the same as watching them march, haha - but it was still good nonetheless. The community support - and the thunderous applause as the Grand Marshalls marched past - was truly an awesome thing. The whole community of Loganville really pulled together to honor our Heroes in style!
Now... how the heck are we gonna top this NEXT year?! Hmmmm......
Kat, Guest Blogger
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