Canonsburg Loves a Parade
These young spectators visit with Spiderman during a recent Canonsburg Fourth of July parade.
Parade participants greet the crowds gathered along Pike Street.
A group of musicians performs for paradegoers.
The parade marshal greets spectators in this file photo from the 1960s.
Spectators watch a turtle float crawl along the parade route.
The Statue of Liberty greets Fourth of July paradegoers.
A military unit marches in this photo, taken during one of the early Canonsburg parades.
A man on horseback marches in one of the first Canonsburg parades, circa 1964.
A float proceeds down Pike Street during one of the first Canonsburg parades.
Emily Harger / O-R A member of North Strabane Township VFW Post 553 sporting his Fourth of July hat marches in the Canonsburg parade.
The Four Townsmen, a local doo-wop group popular in the early 60s, serve as parade marshals for the 2004 event.
Katie Roupe/O-R photo The parade kicks off with sirens as local police vehicles lead the procession down Pike Street, Canonsburg.
Observer-Reporter file photo
Spectators look for oncoming units in the 2007 Canonsburg Fourth of July parade.
Katie Roupe / O-R Members of the Canon-McMillan High School basketball team lead the parade.
O-R photo Kim Fee hugs her new husband after the couple exchanged marriage vows on a float during the 2010 parade.
O-R photo The Canon-McMillan High School marching band is a familiar sight in the Fourth of July parade.
Katie Roupe / O-R A parade participant decked out in red, white and blue cruises down Pike Street at the start of the parade.
O-R photo Susan Dade of Canonsburg was not to be outdone when it comes to patriotic attire as she watches the parade in 2008.
O-R photo An elderly “woman” holds a paradegoer’s viewing spot in this 2011 file photo.
A young paradegoer sports his patriotic attire.
O-R photo The rain held off for the 2008 parade, but these U.S. Marines came prepared.
The Pirates Parrot waves to spectators gathered along the parade route.
O-R photo Ralph Vogel of Canonsburg uses a metal chair to shield himself from a heavy downpour midway through the 2003 parade.
The first Canonsburg Fourth of July parade, the story goes, included the Canon-McMillan High School band, a couple of Canonsburg fire trucks and a cement mixer.
The parade was, in fact, bigger than that, and it actually included floats and four bands. But, my, how it’s grown.
Heading into its 54th year, the annual July 4 extravaganza now boasts as many as 150 units, draws as many as 40,000 people and lasts more than two hours. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Cavasina Drive and proceeds westward on to Pike Street, ending at Bluff Street.
The secret to the parade’s success, said Fourth of July Celebration Committee co-chairman Beth Ludwin, is tradition and consistency.
“You’re providing memories, and we do not want to let this community down,” said Ludwin, whose father, Bill Brooks, served as parade chairman when she was a child. “People come back home and plan their vacations around the parade. We want to make sure they’re entertained.”
The parade is billed as the second-largest July 4 parade in Pennsylvania, behind only Philadelphia.
The idea for a parade was conceived in 1962 when Tony Colaizzo, an insurance salesman who went on to serve in the state House of Representatives and as mayor of Canonsburg, missed an annual family picnic at South Park and became dismayed after he walked around the streets of Canonsburg and didn’t see any U.S. flags or signs of celebration.
He formed a committee that worked for 11 months to plan the first celebration, held in 1963.
Since then, the parade has been held annually, with the exception of two years when it was canceled because of rain, said lifelong Canonsburg resident and historian James Herron, who was part of a committee that produced “Fifty Fabulous Fourths,” a book celebrating the parade’s 50th anniversary in 2012.
The parade has offered paradegoers many highlights, including a wedding in 2010 and the return of music legend and Canonsburg native Bobby Vinton.
Parade co-chairman Jeffrey Shinshasky said the band chose the Canonsburg parade over Boston’s annual parade.
The 2016 grand marshal is the Greater Washington County Food Bank.
The committee relies on corporate sponsors and other donations to cover parade and Town Park festivities.
Said Shinshasky’s father, Tom, another former co-chairman who still volunteers, “I’m so proud to be a part of it. It’s in my blood. I don’t think I’ll ever stop helping with this parade.”