Floating a parade of ideas
Chester County has its Marching Mushrooms. What has Fayette? Something uniquely Fayette must be decided upon quickly if we are to have a chance at making a big splash during Gov.-elect Ed Rendell’s inaugural parade. Commissioner Sean Cavanagh has asked for help. Rendell’s Inaugural Committee in December invited Cavanagh to help Fayette participate in the Jan. 21 parade. The new guv is hoping that each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties “will participate and will do so with a demonstration of something that is special to your county.” Chester’s Marching Mushrooms was held out as an example. That’s fine for a place such as Chester with bragging rights to so little that they must count on a fungus.
But Fayette’s another story. It is here that the French and Indian War began during a brutal skirmish in Jumonville. It is here where long before he was to become the nation’s first president George Washington bunkered down at Fort Necessity. And it is Fayette that can brag birthing rights to another general with the same Christian name, that of George C. Marshall. Fayette was on the path of the nation’s first interstate road, now celebrated as the National Road. It is here that Frank Lloyd Wright created the masterpiece Fallingwaters. Outsiders know Fayette for its clean fishing streams, its first-rate white water rafting, its ski resorts.
So many choices and such little time to choose a theme and pull it together. But Fayette is also known for its many festivals and parades and the creative ability of its natives to rise to such challenging occasions. Cavanagh is looking for your help, your ideas. Give him a call, 724-430-1200, if you have an idea for something uniquely Fayette.