Community Corner

Longfellow to Celebrate Fourth with 43rd Annual Parade

The community event known for antics like drill and swat teams is back for another year.

The origins of the longest-running Fourth of July parade in Columbia is a little convoluted, but one thing is clear—the parade started in 1970 after a group of friends from Longfellow challenged each other to a softball game.

The neighbors were at a pizza shop at the time and a Dixieland band was playing. The neighbors hired the band and the parade was born, according to a 1990 newspaper report by Erik Nelson.

Nelson wrote that in one of the first parades, in 1971, the biggest float was called "Elliot's Oak Pioneers", which was an outhouse used as a lawn ornament on unsuspecting neighbors' yards.

Since then, that tongue-in-cheek culture has continued. There have been swat teams, armed with flyswatters, and precision drill teams, wielding power tools. A group called the "Longfellow's Hells Angels" patrolled the parade once. They were described as a white-haired group that putts along on their mopeds, by Phyllis Kepner in Villages in 1989.

Another newspaper writer in the 90s wrote, "it has been called the most disorganized parade in the world." There is no prior registration for floats, and anyone interested can attend the parade and march in it.

This year, the parade celebrates its 43rd anniversary, with a loop around Hesperus Drive and Eliots Oak Road, followed by a softball game. The parade lineup begins at 9:30 a.m. at Longfellow Elementary, with the parade marching at 10 a.m. Afterwards, the softball game between the Eliots Oak Nuts and the Hesperus Wrecks takes place behind Harper's Choice Middle School.

"We're a pretty lucky bunch here," said the parade's organizer Barbara Russell. "I think it's a very special parade for what it signifies, not only for the Longfellow community, but we have people from all over the county to be part of the parade."

The parade also often lampoons local issues. For example, one year residents made giant paper mache bike helmets for the parade, after the County Council mandated bicyclists to wear helmets.

Russell said she remembered a year in the early '80s when the county was considering shutting down an elementary school in west Columbia. Longfellow was one of the schools they were looking at. So her and a couple of neighbors pushed their newborns around in strollers, holding signs that said "Future Longfellow Students."

A picture of the group is now held at the Columbia Archives.

Russell's husband Bob, who organized the event for 15 years before passing in 2010, was a force behind the event, and will be honored on America's birthday. In 2011, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman named July 4 in Howard County "Bob Russell Day."

This year in addition to possible antics, Ulman has been named the grand marshal. Also, a food drive will take place during the parade, so attendees are being asked to bring canned food or non-perishables to donate.

What are your favorite memories of the Longfellow Fourth of July Parade?





Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here