Community Corner

Brookside Parade Takes 'Major Loan' to Cover $7K Debt

'Embarrassed' chairperson asks for help in her thank you letter to the editor.

Editor's note: The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Cecelia Donato. It is posted here in its entirety.

Dear Editor, 

The Brookside Community Club 4th of July Parade Committee has many people to thank for all their time and help at this year’s festivities.  We hope everyone who came out had a wonderful time, and that you all remember that the Parade is only possible with your donations.  So before I get to the thanks, let me plead with everyone who attended, everyone who lives in the area, and everyone who is reading this letter, please, please, make a donation.  We still need to raise a total of $7,000.00 to have a healthy start for next year, or we might not have a next year.

We had to take a major loan from the Community Club for the first time EVER. They have fronted costs before, but not like this. Everyone was paid, but we still owe money to the Club and have no seed money for next year. Your Chairperson is embarrassed to have this happen on her watch, especially this year, when we were trying the website and online donations for the first time!  So please, help us pay back the Club and get seed money for next year!  Send your donation to Rosie Flood, Treasurer, 4th of July Parade Committee, 12 Washington Valley Road, Morristown, NJ 07960, or go to our website at www.brooksideparade.org  to make your donation online.  And we thank Rosie for everything she does for the Parade, above and beyond the traditional role of Treasurer. 

The Committee has a lot of help on the 4th to put on the celebration every year.  We need more people to help with planning earlier in the year so if you think you can contribute, come to our meetings!  Check the Meetings Announcements in the Observer for dates and times next Spring. This is a great event to attend, and even more fun to plan!

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But NOW!  The Good Part!  Your Committee thanks all the people who get to the Parade first – Dave Read and his men at the Department of Public Works who set everything up, Chief Crawford and the men in blue from the Police Department who keep us safe, and the gentlemen of the Knights of Columbus Chapter at St. Joseph’s Church who line up the parade and get it moving.  No one thinks about this, but have you ever wondered what would happen if the police did not block the roads, or the DPW did not set up the tents, line the fields, and bring out the trailers the bands and floats are on?  And no one can line up a parade alone – you need people everywhere, from the Middle School to Tingley Road, and on Dogwood and Main, all making sure the parade keeps moving.  Thanks, Knights of Columbus! 

The people most of you see first are Hope and Norm Preston.  For years they have gotten up in the wee hours to set up breakfast, pick up doughnuts, make coffee, and ice down soft drinks.  They have help, it’s true, from Chris and Ken Camerson, Kris and Ken West, and Rhoda Radtke, but let’s face it – it’s a Preston Operation and they deserve a huge THANK YOU!

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Our parade always starts with an invocation, flag raising, and our National Anthem.  We really appreciate the blessing received from Fr. Mike Drury this year.  As always, he reminds us of the sacrifice of others that paid for this day, and that we need to be grateful for that.   The Boy Scouts provided us with a wonderful honor guard and raised the flag for our town.  Thanks go to Boy Scouts Matt Marino, Patrick Martin, Jimmy McGoldrick and Matthew Messina.  And finally, of course, we thank Brookside’s own Nadine Jacobson for singing the National Anthem.  It is wonderful to have you leading the town in singing its patriotic pledge!

The first parade entry was, of course, our Grand Marshal, ANNEMARIE HORNYAK!  Thank you, Ms. Hornyak, for starting off our parade.  Frankly, after teaching for 39 years I’d be sleeping in but no, there you were!  We hope you enjoyed the musical interlude provided by Olivia DeMattio of Chester, who is Miss Earth New Jersey.  We do plan to get the Address System looked at – and that leads me to thank Irv McNair, who sets this up for us every year.  Think about it – setting up microphones and speakers and wires, all in the rain.  Thanks, Irv. 

We also thank the people who use the address system the most – our announcers, John Mills, Joe Arwady, and our Parade Chairperson, Evan “Buzzy” Thomas.  They do a great job and really add to the day, especially when they talk about our Grand Marshal or this year’s Community Service Award nominees, the Junior Firefighters of Brookside Engine Co. No. 1 and Ralston Engine Co.  These young men are high school students who gave more time than you can know during the Hurricane Sandy aftermath.  They are Connor Beggan, Thomas Jones, Brian Lynch, Brandon McCurdy, Christ Pirquet, Zach Webster, Brian Wlaslowski, Kayla Wood, Sam Tufts, Philip Schlagel, and Leif Catania.

One of the best parts of the celebration is the music – and we have bands because Diane Dinklage knows how to negotiate a good contract!  Thank you, Diane, for keeping our toes tapping, and for setting up the concert after the parade!  And we hope that you all got to see some of the games being run by the Brewster family – and did you know Darryl Brewster agreed to do this even though his daughter was getting married on the 6th?  Darryl, you are amazing. 

Your Committee also hopes all of you enjoyed lunch with the Rotary Club of the Mendhams, with their annual cook out; we thank the Rotary for performing this service for us.  And a HUGE thank you to Brookside Engine Co. No. 1 for the beverage truck – and for keeping it in the field with the rest of the day’s activities again this year.  Everyone looks forward to this every year, and having everything together really has meant that our attendees have not had to choose where to go!

Did you run into the Club and see all the fantastic entries in the First Annual Float Design Contest?  You should have!  And you should have seen one of the floats that was actually built – the elementary school level winner was the 3rd grade class of Mr. O’Keefe and the kids and parents were able to put the float together!  The middle school level was won by three young ladies, Carly Smith, Morgan Killam, and Abbey Thalacker, who were unable to get their float together because of the weather – but have agreed to do so next year, when we hope to have the winners of the Second Annual Float Design Contest in the parade!

We also thank the O’Brien family for running the Bingo games again this year.  If you have not ever attended them, these games are worth a visit!  Not only is it standing room only, but the prizes this year included Chamilia jewelry donated by the Jeweler’s Gallery.  Thank you, Jeweler’s Gallery for your incredibly generous donations and your support of the 4th of July Celebration.

As always, we thank all the parade participants, including our elected officials, the fire and rescue squads from our town and neighboring towns, and community groups from all over.  Everyone loves seeing the participants in the Pooch Parade, the jump roping squad, and the floats.  If you enjoyed it, maybe you’ll be in charge of a family or neighborhood float NEXT year! We welcome everyone!

Finally, your General Chairperson would like to thank her daughter, Elisabeth Donato, for designing the poster, postcard (which I hope you all have now received), letterhead, and this year’s Commemorative Parade Button. But most of all, I thank her for being here and stepping in to keep things moving this year when I could not.  You did a great job, my girl!

So thank you, again, all of you, for everything you did to make this year’s celebration a true example of they way that Brookside is JERSEY STRONG!

 

Very truly yours,

The Brookside Community Club

4th of July Parade Committee

Cecelia Donato, General Chairperson

Buzz Thomas, Parade Chairperson

Rosie Flood, Treasurer

Diane Dinklage, Entertainment




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