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Happy 234 — and many happy returns

Folks in Ridgefield figure the country is 'doing excellent'

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: July 4, 2010, 12:00am
5 Photos
Brad Fletcher, right, of Vancouver, and his son, Tom, of Kennewick, wave from atop a 1927 Ahrens Fox firetruck.
Brad Fletcher, right, of Vancouver, and his son, Tom, of Kennewick, wave from atop a 1927 Ahrens Fox firetruck. Owned and restored by Dick Streissguth, it's one of a handful of vintage trucks that appear in Vancouver-area parades. Photo Gallery

RIDGEFIELD — Up on a second-floor patio, Uncle Sam enjoyed a sweeping view of Main Street America as it rolled by in all its cheerful and corny glory.

Roaring tractors and vintage roadsters. Marching bands and inflatable mascots. Bagpipers in kilts and politicians on wheels.

“It is my birthday, and I am doing excellent,” said the distinguished gentleman in the red, white and blue top hat.

He wasn’t exactly sure which birthday, but agreed that 234 sounded right.

Sam actually was Warren Rust, a businessman and past chairman of Ridgefield’s annual Fourth of July Parade. Rust’s slender frame and gray temples — and that hat — helped him look the part of Uncle Sam gravely surveying the citizenry from his second-floor perch. Earlier in the day, he was all smiles as he walked his Yorkie, Carson, in the pet parade.

“This is the highlight of the year for Ridgefield,” he said of this year’s Fourth of July extravaganza. “It’s right here.”

Of course, it happened to be the third of July when the town put on its annual celebration. But nobody seemed to blink about that, and the daylong Saturday event drew thousands of visitors who lined the parade route and then swamped food carts and local businesses. There was music, barbecue, kids’ activities, face-painting, a pie-eating contest, an scheduled open-to-all street dance and, finally, rockin’ tunes late into the night at the local bar and grill.

The noon parade that started on Main Avenue and turned left on Pioneer Street was the heart of it all.

“You are in for a slice of Americana, my friend,” said Alcove Art Gallery co-owner and artist Marilyn Hocking to a Ridgefield parade newbie. “It is old-fashioned and nostalgic. I’m from the rural South, and this parade connects me back with the roots of America. Some people say Ridgefield is still Mayberry.”

And the parade rolled by: A pirate ship with smoking cannons, courtesy of the Clark Regional Wastewater District (motto: “Let the good times flow”). A company of dancing toothbrushes led by a proud box of dental floss (sponsor: Mountain View Dental). The green-thumbed ladies of the Ridgefield Garden Club, whom Hocking called the true backbone of the town. The white-robed students of the Lake Shore Tai Kwan Do Club, accompanied by the inevitable disco tune “Kung Fu Fighting” blasting from PA speakers.

And a ponytailed parade grand marshal, David Standal, who waved from the back of a blue Chevy hotrod, license plate DUH.

Birthday speeches

Saturday’s parade seemed the right time and place to check in with Uncle Sam: How’s Main Street America doing on this, his 234th birthday?

“America’s got some work to do, but the good thing is, everybody pitches in to get the job done,” he said. “That’s the beautiful thing about America. We have a common goal, and when things get rough, we help each other out.”

But do Americans have a common goal? Things haven’t grown too angry, too divisive right now?

“It’s always like that to some degree,” Uncle Sam said. Economic stress may make it worse, he said, but Americans will come together in the end.

Hocking said downtown Ridgefield is surviving. “We’re not in high cotton, to use a Southern phrase, but we are hanging on by our fingernails.”

She said efforts to bring new visitors to downtown Ridgefield — with special events like a new First Friday and regular live music and other fun — are bearing fruit.

“I’m very enthused about showing people what we’ve got in downtown Ridgefield,” she said. “We’re still alive and still a friendly small town. We’re doing all right.”

Dee Metro, proprietor of the Belltower Cathedral, a historic downtown wedding chapel and caterer, was eager to serve burgers to hot, hungry parade-goers.

“The last couple of years have been rocky, but we’re seeing a huge improvement,” she said. Her side business, a limousine service, has been on the upswing again, she said.

“I’m an optimist,” she said. “I pretty much believe, what you put out there, you’re going to get back.”

A similar message of self-motivation and optimism came from Alice — as in Wonderland, that is.

“We’re in an interesting spot right now,” she said.

The adventurous girl made a parade appearance along with the entire cast of her recent film treatment — Mad Hatter, Red Queen, human playing cards and all.

Alice — otherwise known as 19-year-old Jillian Pfiefer — said she’s been parading with her family, which owns the corner Ridgefield Hardware store, since she was five years old.

Any curious birthday thoughts on America?

“We need to work on our insides more,” she said. “We need to work on who we are and not pay so much attention to what others say about us. We can worry about what to do and what others will think, or we can work on who we are.”

Scott Hewitt: 360-735-4525 or scott.hewitt@columbian.com.

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