It turned out to be a beautiful day for Shepherdstown’s Fourth of July parade and picnic this year, and a lot of people turned out and seemed to enjoy themselves.

It takes a great deal of time and effort from many people to make these events happen every year. The Rotary Club of Shepherdstown wants to thank all those people for their hard work.

Thanks are due, first, to everyone who organized and participated in the many different units that marched in the parade. We’re grateful to them for putting so much effort into the occasion.

We also want to thank all those who turned out to watch the parade and attend the picnic.

As always, we want to thank Shepherdstown’s mayor, Jim Auxer, Town Recorder Lori Robertson and other town council members, for being so supportive of our Fourth of July events. And the same goes for the town hall staff and our police and fire departments.

Last but by no means least, we want to thank the following individuals and businesses for volunteering time and/or donating materials, services and funds to help with the parade and picnic. Many of which are members of the Shepherdstown Rotary Club. Hopefully, this list includes everyone who helped, but so many were involved that we recognize we may have missed some.

Thank you to our parade volunteers: Holly Morgan Frye and Peter Smith, who organized the parade; Todd Coyle, parade announcer; Bill Howard, photography; Erwin Asam; Melanie Ford; Steph Kuhn; John Loeffler; Wendy Baracka; Teri Biebel; Susan Reichel; Elisabeth Staro; and Rie Wilson.

Thank you to our picnic volunteers: Rick Caruso, who organized the picnic; Steve Campbell, who planned and directed all the food and drink service at the picnic; Sandy Brown, who organized and managed the picnic’s children’s activities, with help from Shelly Feist; David Hammer; Asa Hammer; Roula Hammer; Effie Kallas; Anne Palmer; Cheryl Roberts; Richard Anson; Annie Baronner; Fred Dalauro; Walt Eifert, and his wife Kim; Cheryl Groen and daughters; Gary Heichel; Jim King; Jack Lantzy; Greg Mason; Dave Miljour; Tom Miller; Sean Murtagh; Dana Orsini; Austin Slater; Diane Solbach, John Taylor; Hank Walter; Jenifer Ingram, Janee McDaniel; Jordan Plaisir; Gabby and Katrina Rosario; Paula Scott; and Barbara Thomas. Many of these volunteers were Rotary or Asbury United Methodist Church members.

Thank you to our in-kind donors: the Bavarian Inn, which provided free freezer space for food storage prior to the picnic and lent chafing dishes for food service at the picnic; the Cacapon Institute, which provided its “Stream Cleaner” educational pinball machine for the picnic; Andrew McMillan, who donated all of the water and soft drinks for sale at the picnic (proceeds from their sale and that of the other picnic food items helped cover parade and picnic costs); the Potomac Valley Audubon Society, which provided one of its children’s “Story Walks” for the picnic; Progressive Printing, which donated posters and flyers to advertise the parade and picnic; the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department, which lent a tanker truck to provide water for the picnic waterslide; and Peter Smith, who covered the cost of renting Morgan’s Grove Park for the picnic and some other event infrastructure costs.

Thank you to our monetary donors: Doug Alexander, Erwin Asam, Rick Caruso, Anna Ciotti, Fred Dalauro, Alice Haas, Gary Heichel, Dick Klein, Tom Lewis, John Loeffler, Keith McCall, Tom Miller, Dave Miljour, Carl Moore, Sean Murtagh, Austin Slater, Lois Turco and Jennifer Wabnitz.

We say this every year, because it’s true — Shepherdstown is a great place to live, in no small part because it includes so many enthusiastic, community-spirited people who are willing to pitch in and work together for the common good! Let’s all do our best to keep it that way!

The Rotary Club of Shepherdstown officers and members