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‘PARK CITIES PEOPLE’ REFLECTS ON PAST PARADE COVERAGE
By Juliet Allan and Emilea McCutchan
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People Newspapers
One of the most anticipated events in Highland Park and University Park every year is the Fourth of July parade with its high-spirited tinseled floats and abundant supply of patriotic hues.
For four decades, Park Cities People has sought to capture countless joyous memories in print, beginning with black-and-white photos of children in newsboy caps and extending to festive Fidos costumed for the occasion.
While we have traded black-and-white photos for vivid reds, whites, and blues, the images captured from the parade’s annual pilgrimage from Highland Park Town Hall to University Park’s Goar Park showcase the effervescently patriotic spirit of the two communities.
Through the years, the parade has inspired poems and op-eds, with some making it onto the pages of Park Cities People, too.
“I’ve seen some spectacular parades in my time, but none to rival that which took place last Sunday in the Park Cities,” Wendy Corbett wrote for a 1982 piece titled “Park Cities’ 4th’ Brings Special Feelings.”
The paper has also covered less glamorous newsworthy moments.
Many issues offered fireworks safety tips in hopes of saving families a trip to the emergency room, but those didn’t help young Kyle Manigold. He could have used a warning about the dangers of jumping off parade floats, as he took a trip to the ER for a hurt ankle in 1995.
Working with the Rotary Club of Park Cities, we published a special section on the parade’s history in our July 2018 issue. Visit peoplenewspapers.com, scroll down, and click Park Cities Archives beneath the Current Issue to search for it.
The paper has its own July Fourth traditions, including our float (please, wave and cheer). We publish a coloring book beforehand (find it in this month’s issue) and a recap photo section afterward (look for it in the August issue).
So, whether you are a first-time participant in the annual parade, or have been around for the last 40 years, be on the lookout for the Park Cities People photographers on the big day to make more memories for the history books.
Will this Fourth of July be Liberty Day?
Will masks become a choice instead of a mandate?
Will the government back out of our lives, and the citizens begin to feel LEN BOURLAND some self-governance?
Hard to know. But at least for a while, with schools neither in session nor Zoomed, here’s hoping kids are playing outside without masks.
I long to hear shrieks of laughter and people singing patriotic songs without being muffled.
A pandemic is too amorphous an enemy to declare victory and have ticker-tape parades. Yet optimism abounds.
Ironically just as all are unmasking, I’ll be donning one.
In the blink of an eye, following a routine endoscopy, a large tumor was discovered in my esophagus. That adage, “first you cry,” didn’t hold true. Disbelief and incredulity, but the speed with which my family and family of friends helped me with a plan, was truly humbling. It’s a terrible way to hear from and see everyone you care about, but I’ve never felt so encircled.
People of faith, my clergy, my friends, and my family have helped stay the nausea, the queasiness, the fatigue, the blahs.
I live on a feeding machine for the next several weeks or months; I juggle medications and tubes like a mixologist; I sleep a lot. Swallowing is a luxury.
But there are so many gifts.
Humor. The first time my sorority sister and I tried to wrestle the lines and hoses of the feed bag that churns a milk drink into my gut, we looked like Lucy and Ethel in a skit. When an old neighbor came to stay, we looked at wigs and got the giggles. The cards people find are seriously funny. And sweet. And inspirational. And real. No chit-chat with cancer.
Love. Constantly, I am amazed at what is being done for me. Ladies have organized radiation and chemo carpools, make sure I’m never alone for stretches at a time, have not fled from the unpleasantness that is cancer. The many kindnesses from all sorts of people are what bring me to tears. Not selfpity.
Why me? Why not me? Why anybody?
I don’t hate much, but I do hate evil cancer.
So while my columns may take a break, please feel free to follow my journey, which is at once singular and familiar. Every day has a gift. This July, mine is that chemo ends.
Columnist Len Bourland is journaling on her page on Caringbridge.org.
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Texas Veterans Parade
Highest Honor to Bill McNutt
The Navarro-Garcia award is the highest honor for Texas Patriotism. It is earned by a Patriot who has demonstrated selfless service in the promotion and honoring of Veterans nationwide. Mr. Lee William McNutt is the Co-Founder of State Funeral for World War II Veterans, dedicated to convincing the President to hold a State Funeral for the final MOH recipient from World War II. The award was presented by Hershel “Woody” Williams, MOH, Iwo Jima 1945 on Armed Forces Day.
Note: Jose Antonio Navarro was signatory of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Candelario “Spider” Garcia received the MOH from President Obama in 2014.
www.worldwar2salute.org PREVIOUS AWARD RECIPIENTS
2020 PATRIOTS AWARD Hershel “Woody” Williams Medal of Honor, 1945
2019 PATRIOTS AWARD Fiske Hanley, U.S. Air Force WWII Flying Cross, Japanese POW 1945
AN EXCEPTIONAL MEMORIAL REQUIRES A PLAN.
The possibilities for a remarkable final tribute are endless. Planning in advance ensures that your own personal vision is realized. From an intimate gathering to an extraordinary affair, we’re here to see that your wishes are honored and your unique story is told.
By Emilea McCutchan
People Newspapers
A year after its COVID-19 cancellation, the Rotary Club of Park Cities Fourth of July Parade will return in all of its patriotic glory plus a wintery mix.
Setting this year’s apart from past parades, organizers are dedicating it to Park Cities’ municipal employees and frontline workers for their service during the pandemic and this year’s blizzard.
“We are very appreciative of the community’s ongoing support and the Rotary Club acknowledging how hard our staff members — both the city and the town — worked during the February storm,” said Steve Mace, University Park’s director of communications and marketing.
The unaffectionately dubbed “Snowmageddon” brought many problems to Park Cities residents and challenges for their municipal employees.
As temperatures dipped into record-breaking lows, the freeze blustered in issues exacerbated by the state’s power grid failure: frozen pipes, broken water mains, and widespread damage to homes that not even the winter wonderland outside could mitigate.
Employees of the city of University Park and town of Highland Park fielded enormous call volumes, responded to requests for water meter shut-offs, and mobilized to repair broken water mains.
In University Park, employees braved frigid temperatures, worked 12-hour shifts, and fixed 56 broken water mains throughout the six days of the winter storm.
Highland Park employees also worked 12-hour shifts, tackling meter disconnects, water line repairs, and a rescue call for a dog who fell into a frozen creek while chasing a duck onto the ice.
Thankfully, Highland Park Department of Public Safety officers Alex Tacey, Justin Davis, Tim Lednicky, Capt. Chuck Gore, and Lt. Jessa Russell saved the chilly canine.
“Another thing that stood out is dispatchers and town employees rented hotel rooms for a few days because they knew they would not be able to make it back and forth to work with the terrible roads,” said Russell, the town’s public information officer. As a small token of gratitude, residents in both towns provided heartwarming meals to municipal employees.
Highland Park’s Mayor Margo Goodwin said she “wholeheartedly” supported dedicating the parade to municipal employees.
They came in on their days off to help during the winter storm and practiced COVID-19 safety guidelines throughout the pandemic, so that town hall never shut down, she noted. “Just the fact that they do not work a 9-to-5 job — they come in whenever they are needed — is just exemplary, and I am very proud of every single one of them.”
HPDPS officer Alex Tacey reaches for a dog that
fell into frigid water. (PHOTO: COURTESY LT. JESSA RUSSELL)
EARLY INDEPENDENCE DAY
What: The Rotary Club of Park Cities Fourth of July Parade, themed “United We Stand” and dedicated to frontline workers who served during the pandemic and February blizzard, benefits the North Texas Food Bank.
When: 9 a.m. July 3 (Lineup begins at 7:30 a.m. at Highland Park Town Hall, and the parade will follow its usual route to Goar Park.)
Grand marshals: After not getting to ride last year, Jim and Laurie Hitzelberger return as honorees this July. Goar Park fun: The city of University Park is organizing an outdoor movie, a fun zone with a rock-climbing wall, a ‘silent party’ outdoor concert, and an e-sports gaming tournament. Festivities end at 1 p.m. Online: parkcitiesrotary.org
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Need a ‘Grisly,’ Hard-Sounding, or ‘Naughty’ Read?
By Rusty Williams $21.99 historypress.com
Didn’t get enough “grisliness” in 202021? A former journalist will take readers back a dozen decades to explore tragic events, most of which occurred before the Park Cities incorporated.
Williams, an award-winning writer-historian, has authored multiple books and written stories for the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Antonio Express, and Associated Press. His latest book comes out near the end of June.
According to publicity materials, it chronicles “heartbreaking and bizarre forms in which death stalked Dallas at the turn of the century.”
“CH is the Most Challenging Sound” By Cynthia Marlow and Michelle Marlow
Illustrated by Megan Skeels $21.95 tamupress.com
In 2019, we introduced this children’s series by two sisters-in-law who combined their interest in education and love for North Texas to create fun stories aimed at helping children with speech impediments.
(PHOTOS: COURTESY, PEXELS.COM)
They are back at it with their latest volume, published this spring.
The fun tale of Charley, a young girl who desperately wants to win her school charity contest to get to the State Fair of Texas, includes “secret tips” for tackling her troubles with the CH sound.
By Josh Hickman $14.99 Amazon.com
First, let me apologize for the headlines I’ve run on top of Hickman’s recent stories in our papers. They were nowhere as entertaining as the ones this comic novelist puts on his books.
The Highland Park author returned to the area several months ago after 14 years in Los Angeles. His latest book begs the question: Just how “naughty” is it?
“It’s not really naughty at all,” Hickman assured me. “Tame by the standards of today. It’s a comic novel. Much of the humor comes from the mundane ‘crimes’ the title character is accused of committing.”
Here’s how the press release describes the book: “From his beginnings as a rebellious child of means through his later years as an elusive recluse, Luney’s life explodes across the page through various moral scandals, naughty religious cults, thrilling séances, and lusty romances, and his increasingly obsessive search for a fabled Elixir of Life.”
Oh my!
– Compiled by William Taylor
