Rain or shine Brownsville festival goes on
Bonnie Bryant-MaGee, formerly of Brownsville, and now a resident of Erie, PA., dodges the raindrops during the Brownsville parade.
Santa has to ride in the trunk of a car after his sleigh was repossessed, for unpaid parking tickets (who knew that you had to pay for parking on rooftops). Santa was one of the participants in the Brownsville parade.
Members of WWII participate in Brownsville parade during Brownsville Community Days.
There is no escape" as a lone duckie makes an attempt to get away from the rest of the flock during the Brownsville festivities.
The first ducky is about to be taken from the Mighty Monongahela River in Brownsville.
The crowd waits in anticipation as the "duckies" float down the Mon., only to be plucked from the great river, during the Brownsville festivities.
Dave Rafferty
“Over the side they go” as the duckies are dumped from the old Inter-County Bridge into the Mon river during the 2011 Brownsville days festivities.
?Rain alternating between a drizzle and a downpour early in the day failed to dampen spirits for Brownsville’s second annual Community Day Saturday, though it did result in fewer parade participants.
“My daughter was supposed to be in the parade. She cheers for Brownsville. They pulled them because of the rain. Now it’s stopped raining,” said Andrea Mapstone as the parade was started around 11 a.m. Saturday.
With nearly 40 vendors registered for the event, only one failed to show up, according to Brownsville Councilman Charlie Perkins, who was on the festival committee. Perkins said the committee needs to make it clear next year that the event will go on rain or shine.
“We definitely need to advertise that. A lot of people called me to see if it was still on,” Perkins said. “There are a lot of people here for the weather being what it is.”
“It hasn’t dampened the spirits any. People are still enthused. People can sit under the tent, and the way the stage is, they can still perform,” said Brownsville Borough Council President Jack Lawver.
The event was co-sponsored by the borough and the Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation (BARC).
The rain stopped briefly as the parade took place, then came down even heavier before tapering to a drizzle and ending in the early afternoon, just as vendor Paul Gullo of Glenshaw predicted.
“The sun’s going to come out, it’s going to get blazing hot and everything’s going to dry out,” Gullo accurately predicted.
It was the very first time Gullo and Connellsville native Sandy Snyder had set up their roast chicken and fried vegetable booth. Though considerably younger, Martele and Amelia Nuckels of West Brownsville, ages 7 and 5 respectively, were on their second event for the year with their lemonade and iced tea stand.
“This is something new we started this year. We want to teach them responsibility. This is to raise their tuition money at Calvary Chapel (Christian School),” said their mother, Sophia Nuckels.
Brownsville Mayor Lester Ward said having so many vendors at the event helped draw people, despite the rainy start, and kept the people there into the afternoon. Councilwoman Tracy Sheehan Zivkovich, who also chaired BARC’s annual Ducky Race in which numbered rubber ducks were dropped into the Monongahela River, said the weather helped to show that the community wanted the event.
“We’ve got people here in the rain,” Zivkovich said.
“It really gives the community a lot of life,” said resident Dave Polvinale. “It’s a great opportunity for Brownsville. I’d really like to applaud our community leaders for making this happen.”
See the HeraldStandard.com website for related video.