This Fourth of July will mark the diamond anniversary of a local tradition, as the 75th annual Towson Area Fourth of July Parade steps off at 10:30 that Saturday morning.

"The flags go up, the bands start to play, the 150 bicycles of the bike rush head up Bosley Avenue and the parade begins," said Jackie Sims, chairman of the all-volunteer committee that puts on the parade. "It's a breathtaking moment every year."

The parade will go forth "unless there's a full-blown thunderstorm with lightning," Sims said.

The Towson parade is among several in the county. A Dundalk parade kicks off early in the morning; Arbutus marches around noon and Catonsville doesn't begin until 2:30 p.m.

"Fortunately we're in the morning, when there are fewer storms," Sims said of the Towson parade. "Catonsville usually bears the brunt of the weather."

This year's parade is dedicated to past and present members of the military, and their families, she said.

The two-hour procession will be only 10 units down from the 100 units that participated last year, Sims said, explaining some groups who usually march have disbanded because their membership has waned.

And there will be one less band -- "because we ran out of space," she said, explaining that the parade can accommodate only so many bands so the noise doesn't bleed from one to the other.

Arranging the lineup is complicated. "You have to consider noise, heat and smells," Sims said. "For example you can't put a Cub Scout pack behind a Carroll Fuel tractor trailer because of the fumes."

The lineup changes almost every week up to parade time, she said.

For the third year in a row, the parade will spotlight a neighborhood -- this time it's West Towson. Residents of that neighborhood will march in the parade with a banner, venerable West Towson resident Dick Parsons will ride in a convertible and the neighborhood is mounting a float that will highlight West Towson attractions.

"We want to have some fun with it," said Mike Ertel, a board member of the West Towson Improvement Association. "We probably won't know what the float will look like until July 3. That's when we'll be making it -- during a happy hour block party."

The parade, which is dependent on donations of time and money from the community, needs men and women willing to volunteer some time to make sure the procession marches this year.

"There are all kinds of jobs that need to be done before and during the parade," said parade committee chairwoman Jackie Sims. "In some cases they can be done at home."

The committee needs, among other things, people to handle e-mails, maintain the Web site, coordinate with military personnel for the fly-over and the honor guard and maintain communications with the bands and other groups that are participating.

Something as simple as clearing off the phone calls to the answering machine for 410-832-2190, the parade telephone number, would be helpful, Sims said.

In addition, numerous volunteers are needed on parade day to help with the lineup, to make sure each unit is in the right place, to help put up decorations, deliver ice chests, arrange chairs and man the bucket brigade. Brigade volunteers solicit money from the crowd while the parade is under way -- a key to raising the money for next year's parade.

Sims said the committee feared the economy would have an impact on the parade.

"We thought donations would be way, way down," she said, "but they are just down, and we are pleased."

Sims hopes the thousands of spectators who show up for the event will make up for the shortfall by giving generously when the buckets are passed, she said, "if for no other reason than the work that the committee does throughout the year to put this parade on the street.

"I think 99.9 percent of the people who come are there because they want to be there. It's a truly happy event, 80,000 smiles long."

Countdown to the Fourth

The two-hour Towson Area Fourth of July Parade will line up on Towsontown Boulevard before starting at Burke and Bosley avenues at 10:30 a.m. and proceeding north on Bosley, east on Allegheny Avenue and south on Washington Avenue.

Parade-route streets will be closed to traffic by 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 4.

Youngsters who want to participate in the 10:30 a.m. bike rush that leads off the parade can assemble with their bicycles and tricycles on the Towson University parking lot directly across from the Burkshire Marriott Conference Hotel beginning at 9 a.m. Parade reviewing stands on Bosley and Washington avenues will offer pre-parade entertainment beginning at 9:30 on Bosley and 9:45 on Washington.

The National Guard's A-10 jets will whip over the Towson skyline at 10:25 a.m.

Free parking will be available in the Baltimore County Revenue Authority high-rise parking garages behind the Towson Library, on Susquehanna avenue and on the corner of Ware and Washington avenues.

Folks willing to chip in to keep the parade marching every July 4 may make checks out to Towson Area Fourth of July Parade and send them to TAFJP, P.O. Box 5418, Towson, MD 21285.

Call 410-832-2190 to volunteer or for further information.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The print version of this story in the June 24 edition of the Towson Times had an error in the path of the parade route. It is corrected here.

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