We were once again blessed with good weather for Shepherdstown’s Fourth of July Parade & Community Picnic this year. There was a great turnout for both events.

It takes a lot of time and effort from a lot of people to make this parade and picnic happen. The Rotary Club of Shepherdstown wants to thank all of those who were involved in making these events happen this year.

Thanks are due first to everyone who organized and participated in the many different units that marched in the parade. We’re grateful to all of you for putting so much effort into the occasion. If you go to the Shepherdstown Rotary Club Facebook page, you’ll find an album of photos from the parade, taken by Rotary member Bill Howard. If you were in the parade, you should be able to find at least one photo of your entry there.

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

As always, we want to thank Shepherdstown Mayor Jim Auxer, Town Recorder Lori Robertson and the other town council members, for being so supportive of our Fourth of July efforts. And the same goes for Police Chief Mike King and his officers, Fire Chief Ross Morgan and his firefighters and the town hall staff.

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, but by no means all, are members of the Shepherdstown Rotary Club.

Hopefully, this list will include everyone who helped: Holly Morgan Frye and Peter Smith, who organized the parade; Todd Coyle, parade announcer; Bill Howard, photography; parade volunteers Teri Biebel, Mel Ford, Steph Kuhn Susan Reichel, Fritzie Martin, Kirsten Martin and Julie Wooten; Rick Caruso, who organized the picnic; Steve Campbell, who planned and directed all of the food and drink service at the picnic; Shepherdstown Centennial Lion’s Club President Sandy Brown, Shepherdstown Centennial Lion’s Club club members Barbara Burger, Diane Link, Adam Link, Mike Scholl, Kathy Scholl, Cheryl Roberts, Effie Kallas and Judge David Hammer and community volunteers Loren Coles, Nona Coles and Chris Coles, who organized and managed the picnic’s children’s activities; and picnic volunteers Richard Anson, Linus Bicker, Maria Brown, Kim Eiffert, Walt Eiffert, Glen Gargan, Jim Grenfell, Cheryl Groen, Gary Heichel, Carol Hill, Jim King, Paul Kradel, Jack Lantzy, Tom Lewis, Fritzie Martin, Kirsten Martin, Greg Mason, Dave Miljour, Tom Miller, Sean Murtagh, Dana Orsini, Austin Slater, John Taylor and Paul Woods.

In-kind donors who helped make these events possible are: the Bavarian Inn, which donated freezer space for food storage prior to the picnic; the Cacapon Institute, which provided its “Stream Cleaner” educational pinball machine for the picnic; Andrew McMillan, who donated all of the soft drinks for sale at the picnic (proceeds from sales of these items and the picnic’s food sales 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 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 infrastructure costs.

Monetary donors behind the parade and picnic include: John Aldis, Erwin Asam, Teri Biebel, Rick Caruso, Walt Eifert, Glenn Gargan, Gary Heichel, Dick Klein, Paul Kradel, Tom Miller, Sean Murtagh, Charlie Smith, Peter Smith, Adam Thomas, Lois Turco and John Williams.

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 officers and members of The Rotary Club of Shepherdstown