The craziest day of summer

Another Fourth of July is gone; another day that led to extreme exhaustion is over. But it was worth it.

We had huge crowds in Virginia City for the 2008 Fourth of July Spectacular, which included a parade, free concert by David John and the Comstock Cowboys, auction, raffles, balloon makers, jugglers, face painters and of course fireworks.

On top of that, the steam engine was running all day, and every trip was packed.

People were parked from Howard Street near the top of the hill to past I street below. By the way, if you are a tourist and park near a residence, be sure to leave their driveway clear. You never know who lives there.

I had two roles on Friday as a member of the Virginia City Chamber of Commerce; one, organize the parade and, two, sell raffle tickets for the Colt .45 we had as a giveaway to try to pay for the event. We started that day about $2,500 short of the $16,500 needed to pay for the fireworks.

There are few rules in Virginia City's parades - no obscene language or behavior and no shooting firearms anywhere but in front of the parade stand at the Bucket of Blood. I'm going to add one more: Try not to drive the organizer crazier than she already is. I'm the organizer.

Actually, parades come as easy to me as writing, now that I have six years of doing them under my belt. The Fourth of July Parade isn't much different than the other 11 or so, it's just a whole lot bigger.

The first time was utter chaos.

I took over the parade that had been handled by the late Lorraine Du Fresne, thanks to a misunderstanding between her and the then president of the Chamber. He asked me to do it and I said sure, how hard could a parade be?

I found out.

I didn't realize so many people would show up at the last minute. I had about 50 entries that day in the lineup, and another 30 showed up at 11:45 a.m. and demanded a number and to be put in the parade, which started at noon.

I did the best I could to take care of everyone, panicking and snapping at a few who were the most demanding. I had a new announcer, who never handled a parade before, and together we proceeded to preside over a successful disaster.

At the Fourth Ward School I actually tried to line up the entries, you know, number 1, number 2, number 3, get in line. I found out two things. One, the Fourth Ward School parking lot is not big enough to stage the parade and two, everyone ignores you anyway. I screamed at the top of my lungs and the parade entries were out of their vehicles talking and laughing with each other. Throw in a grill and you would have had a giant tailgate party.

So as the noon whistle blew, I just waved them in any which way and hoped the announcer could figure it out. He couldn't.

Bobby Kittle, who still announces the parades, is a local entertainer who has a great ability to ad-lib, and needed it that day. He threw the lineup, worthless without anyone in order, up in the air and just winged it. He has a great sense of humor, joked about the situation, and those in the parade helped him out by shouting at him who they were.

Now, six years later, we have two parade staging areas, C and Flowery near the Chapin House and at the historic Fourth Ward School. We have three announcers, Kittle and veteran Bob Del Carlo at the Bucket of Blood, another at the Train Car and a third at the Union Brewery.

I ask for my registration forms by July 2, so I know I'll get them by July 3 and make up the lineup the night before the parade. Each announcer gets the advance lineup the morning of the parade. Latecomers can be in the parade, but they get tacked onto the end. I have simple sheets of paper where I write their numbers, names and descriptions for the parade announcers, then make two copies of each sheet.

Most importantly, the number of the entry matches the description, so when the announcer finds the number, even if it is out of order, he or she can read the attached description and most of the time get it right.

Of course, screwing up is its own fun, if everyone has a sense of humor.

Thanks to everyone who came to our Fourth of July this year, to those who bought a raffle ticket or made a donation and helped pay for it. We did make up the $2,500 difference, thanks to the gun raffle and Kittle doing an amazing auctioneering job, selling a commemorative David John and the Comstock Cowboys wine set donated by Botcha Caloops for $1,500. The gun was won by Roger Stressman of Reno.

It was an incredible day, all things considered. We got to honor some local veterans, entertain our visitors with an unbelievable parade, concert and fireworks, and mostly, have a great time celebrating our nation's birth. Hope you were there. Come back next year.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-7351.