Thank you

To the Community,

Thank you to all who came to our Swarthmore Independence Day celebration, which we were able to hold again after last year’s temporary break. While we were a little rusty, it was once again a great morning.

Although many Swarthmoreans were away for the weekend, we had an enthusiastic crowd. Our community groups contributed once again: (in no particular order) the Boy Scouts, the Swarthmore Recreation Association, the Lions Club, the Rotarians, and especially the Swarthmore fire company each made sure their parts ran smoothly. As always, the bike races were fast, the pets, bikes, and floats were well decorated, and the fire demonstration was the tiniest bit scary!

Thanks to Jane Billings, who yet again did an artful job coordinating the parade participants, and Billy Hodges, who not only ably emceed the award ceremony but also filled in at the last minute to lead us in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Andy Shelter was kind enough to shoot the annual town portrait.

Rick Sonntag and the Silver Dollar Band have been faithfully showing up and playing at our Memorial Day and Independence Day celebrations every year. This year, Rick read out a lovely tribute he’d written to the late Lee Jones, who used to direct the band: “It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Lee Jones, the long-time impresario of the Silver Dollar Band. He succumbed to COVID-19 on June 30, 2020. I do not know if Lee was the original founder of the Silver Dollar Band, but he was our heart and soul for many decades. Lee lived a pretty impressive life, so I’d encourage you to have a look at his obituary, available from the Pagan Funeral Home.” 

See you next year. (Please bring your antique cars!)

Ellen Pierce
Swarthmore
Independence Day Committee

P.S., in Tuesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer, there was a charming photo of Bob Hayden and Marty Spiegel sitting in the Swarthmore fire company’s antique fire truck!