The “Take Back the Streets” parade Saturday turned out to be more about doing
than watching. A modest
number of people watched from the sidewalks at the parade moved from its starting point at
Richard’s Barbecue, south along Main to Monroe Street, but organizers estimated as
many as 3,000 people attended the Youth Fest that followed the parade at Kelsey Scott
Park.
About a quarter hour before the
parade began, a squad commander on the police radio asked for more cars to help patrol
traffic because the parade was turning out to be bigger than he’d expected.
Salisbury Police and Rowan County
Sheriff’s cars, with blue lights flashing and sirens wailing, led the parade,
followed by a fire truck, more sirens and red lights.
The A.L.Brown High School ROTC
honor guard carried flags at the head of the parade, followed by the football teams of
Livingston and Catawba colleges, not exactly marching, but at least walking with some
respect for the steady beat of drums and the accent of symbols.
The Gospel Disciples Step Team,
wearing red T-shirts and jean shorts, stepped and danced in a well-rehearsed routine to a
syncopated beat provided by their own drum and symbols. The steppers ranged from about 3
years old into the teens.
A “Poop Van” followed
them in the parade, prepared “to pick up the little poopers that poop out.” At
the corner of Innes and Main streets, none of them, not even the boy so young he played a
small plastic drum, showed any sign of plopping down.
It was the kind of parade where
people could step off the sidewalks and talk to those marching and driving along.
The next group was singing
“Down by the Riverside.”Standing at the curb, Carol Lynch, from Mount Pleasant,
started singing along. “That’s gospel,” she said. “That’s gospel
music.”
Lynch had been having her hair
done nearby when she heard the music and went to check the action. Her cousin’s
children were in the parade, she said, and she thought it was great, “real positive
for the community and good for the children.”
Five people riding horses came
next, followed by the Livingstone College Marching Band, stepping high to a loud, jazzy
beat, playing hard and sweating without complaint in the mid-day sun.
Other participants included: First
Street Baptist Church from Southmont, Locke Street Church of God, Macedonia Missionary
Baptist Church, Gerry Wood Auto, Gospel Disciples Drill Team, Salisbury High School, North
Rowan High School, A.L. Brown, United Arts Council, Our Choice, PUSHPA, Transouth, Heilig
Meyers and Vogue Cleaners.
The red T-shirts of the sponsors,
Greater End Time Harvest Ministries, stood out, both among the onlookers and in the
parade, as children and adults marched and greeted each other. At least one woman in the
parade pushed a child in a stroller.
On the sidelines, a lot of kids
got a lot of hugs.
Tracy Harrison, who said she was
there as a spectator to support Tim Bates, a co-coordinator of the project, said,
“It’s a good, positive thing for the community.” She said Bates put in a
huge amount of time on the parade and Youth Fest.
Assistant project co-coordinator
was Pastor Keith Barnett.
Every member of the Greater End
Time Harvest Ministries to whom a Post reporter spoke wanted to make sure Bishop Harold
Wilson received attention and full credit for organizing the project.
Wilson said simply, “I grew
up on the street in Salisbury, and I’m trying to do something about it.”
Wilson has said that people need
to pay attention to what’s happening in our society, and that adults must get
involved with young people, to show them an alternative to drinking, stealing and drugs.
Wilson said they can find a better way to live through Christ.
He seemed to be everywhere during
the parade, running up ahead, then back toward the end. Finally, he joined other
ministries members in an open automobile to ride on to Kelsey Scott Park for the Youth
Fest.
Behind him, more police cars
followed, announcing the end of the parade with more screaming sirens and whirling blue
lights.
And nobody flinched. |
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