Parade a gift to Carmel

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An authentic gift is given with no expectation of receiving anything in return.  That is why I like to refer to the St. Vincent Health Parade at CarmeFest as a genuine gift.  A heartfelt, soulful contribution offered by your friends, neighbors and local merchants with no strings attached.

Starting at the top by acknowledging the bottom line; no St. Vincent Health means no parade.  For the last several years, St. Vincent Health has stepped up and underwritten the significant expense of producing the parade.  St. Vincent Health, thank you for your generosity.

And then there are our local businessmen and women, who at their own expense give their best effort to contribute to our celebration.  Jeff Salsbury, Matt Frey and Mel the Mushroom are long-time contributors who help us hang on to the small town, local flavor of our parade.

Perhaps you noticed this year the parade route was horse manure free.  Not by choice as we love the fact that horse manure means horses but the extreme heat was too dangerous for all animal entries.  Even Uncle Sam was missing for the first time EVER.

Possibly the greatest triumph of this year’s parade was the response “to” and “from” the military Veterans in the Parade Grand Finale sponsored by ReMax/Legends.  A CarmelFest tradition over the last several years, our beloved Veterans received an amazing response from you, theCarmelcommunity.  Mr. Phil Grabman ofGreenfield,Indianawas one of the Vets in the Grand Finale.  A 24 year Marine was so overwhelmed by your response; he had to let us know.  “With a street temp of 127 degrees, your citizens roughed it out and stayed for the entire parade.  Everyone stood and respected the American Flag along with the military Vets.  It was an honor to come toCarmeland be a part of a celebration where people showed respect and pride for their country.”

But the true “Spark” behind the St. Vincent Health Parade are the volunteers working behind the scenes who do so unrecognized and without any public thanks.  Led by the very talented and extremely dedicated Peggy Powell, the Parade Committee is Bec Hunter, Kurt Rupenthal, Paul McCarthy, Ray Kramp, Barbara Ellis, Paul Shulte, Jerry Stohler, Jim Burrell, Marty Habing, RoseMary Waters, Gena Hout and LeighAnn Clayton.  Along with volunteers from Firestone and the Carmel Lions Club, it took 96 people just to manage the parade.

I witnessed the clapping, the standing, the candy grab and families happily celebrating together along our own version of Main Street USA.  There is no argument that our parade and the people behind it are a wonderful gift which should never be taken for granted.


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