Having grown up in the Kendale Apartments on Maiden Choice Lane and then in a house on Delores Avenue, former Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. has attended the July 4 parade in Arbutus for his "entire life," he said.

"It's an Ehrlich family tradition," he said.

With his mother, Nancy Ehrlich, and aunt, Sara Cousins, both parade organizers for more than 30 years, he also had the summer duty of helping to raise money for the event, he said.

"I remember, as a young teen and as a kid, running around with my mom with buckets, going door-to-door getting donations," he said.

This year, in recognition of his hometown roots and his years of political prominence, Ehrlich will have a different role in the parade: grand marshal.

Ehrlich has been in the parade before, including when he was governor, when he walked the route along East Drive, but he has never been grand marshal.

His mother and aunt shared the honor in 2007, however.

The honor is "something that I think mom and dad, (wife) Kendel and I are all looking forward to," he said.

Ehrlich said there will be a car driving with him, but he, Kendel and their sons, Drew, 9, and Joshua, 4, plan to walk the route -- one that will be lined with old friends and fond memories, he said.

"For me, walking that parade route means Little League teammates, junior high school teammates, kids' families I've known for my entire life on this earth," he said.

"So it's a walk through my past. It's a lot of fun."

Ehrlich, who went on from those Little League football days to Gilman School to become the captain of the football team at Princeton University, is also the grand marshal of this year's July 4 parade in Dundalk, which will occur earlier in the morning, he said.

The parade in Arbutus starts at 12:30 p.m., and goes from Tom Day Boulevard down Oregon Avenue to the Super Fresh grocery store parking lot at the end of East Drive.

Governor from 2003 to 2007, Ehrlich is now a member of the Baltimore-based law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.

Before he was governor, Ehrlich served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Maryland House of Delegates.

Parades are notorious as campaigning grounds for politicians.

In fact, Ehrlich said one "specific recollection" of the Arbutus parade for him was trying to prevent his father from "booing the politicians he didn't like," he said with a laugh.

But Ehrlich said he will not be campaigning this year.

"There's no campaign," he said. "I think there are people coming out obviously to show support, but nothing formal."

If people do see others wearing Ehrlich T-shirts, they're not new, he said.

That jibes well with George Kendrick, who is organizing the parade through his work with the Arbutus Recreation and Parks Council and who asked Ehrlich to be grand marshal.

Kendrick isn't shy about his desire to deter politicians when it comes to July 4, and said that his selection of Ehrlich as grand marshal wasn't political.

"The parade is not a political thing," he said. "It's a day for patriotism."

His selection of Ehrlich involved "no political motivation whatsoever, because if there was, I'd never ask him," he said.

"Bobby is one of the nicest guys and one of my better friends," Kendrick said of picking the former governor.

Ehrlich's dad, Bob Sr., who has lived on Delores Avenue with wife Nancy for 44 years, said it is nice to see his son, "born and raised an Arbutus boy," receive the honor -- "especially with him not being in office," he said.

"They called him, which I thought showed, well, at least they haven't forgotten him anyway," he said.

"He was born here, raised here. He's a 100 percent Arbutus boy, believe me.

"He went through all the little leagues, the whole works," he said.

The proud father said he'll probably watch the parade, which he never misses, from in front of Leon's Triple L Restaurant, at 5309 East Drive, with some friends.

Kendrick said the day will start with the annual 10K race at 8 a.m., followed by a soap box derby on Elm Road at 9 a.m. and a flag raising by members of the Dewey Lowman American Legion Post 109 at 10:30 a.m.

Then, at "12:29 and a half," just before the parade begins, there will be an A-10 Warthog flyover by the Maryland Air National Guard, Kendrick said.

The parade will include all sorts of local groups, as well as marching bands from Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, he said.

Late last week, Kendrick said he was still "five grand short" of collecting the $22,000 needed to put on the parade, and asked community members to pitch in.

Kendrick, who people routinely refer to as "the unofficial mayor of Arbutus," said before he asked Ehrlich to be the grand marshal, people were telling him he should fill the position himself.

"But I can't see that," he said -- at least not until he knows it will be his "last parade," he said.

"Then I'll say 'I'll do it,' and bow out gracefully," he said.

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