June 11, 2016

• Separation Day in New Castle

  I've been waiting for a while for the "Separation Day" activities that the locals have been talking up to me for some time. Today was the day. I turned down a visit to an Air Museum with a contract instructor co-worker to see it. I'm glad I did, but I can see why he wasn't interested in going a second time.

  Separation Day is when Delaware declared their independence from both Pennsylvania and England. They were 3 counties of the Pennsylvania colony, all with access to the Delaware river, which gave them some very strategic business advantage. Their independence; however, was about a month before the Declaration of Independence was signed. So their presence as an independent country was very short lived, since they signed on with the rest of the colonies. Pennsylvania was a bit irked by the upstart Delaware, but there were bigger things to be dealt with ... like a war with a super-power.

  The whole thing reminded me a LOT of the Baroda 3rd of July and Memorial Day  festivities. The New Castle parade was longer, but contained pretty much the same entries: politicians, a few almost-vintage cars, a few costumed entrants, lots of old veterans, scouts, and a couple of school band and cheer groups.

  There were far fewer vendors than I anticipated. Most were simply advertising tents for products and services. That was probably my biggest disappointment. I was hoping for something more like St. Joseph"s Arts and Crafts or Antiques on the Bluff.

  I came home for a while and ran an errand, then returned to buy dinner from their Bar-B-Que competition Good thing I didn't wait even 5 minutes longer. I got some of the very last meat from the last vendor who had any ... at about 4 PM. It was supposed to go until 5:00. So, I ate my two meat-on-a-sticks (carefully, as I had no napkins) drank a beer to wash it down and headed home. They have a fireworks celebration to close the day, but after more than 25 years of those in Baroda ... I took a pass.

  Pix below!

   

  • 11:27 pm
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