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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Parade sets the stage for ‘one-time’ events
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett County Public Schools / AJC
Donna Pendergast, band director for Snellville Middle School, helps Sylvester Mundenda -6th Grade. Pendergast is retiring at the end of this school year after being at the middle school for 29 years. This will be her 27th Snellville Days Parade.
When the Snellville Days parade winds down Wisteria and Oak Roads Saturday morning, the event will be more than just a showcase of faces, fun, floats and attractions.
It will be a parade of stories.
There are the Vietnam veterans, each with a moving personal tale, who will share the grand marshal’s role in the parade.
Dawn Robinson, a 1981 graduate of South Gwinnett High School who was working in one of the World Trade Center towers during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, will sing the National Anthem.
There will be elected officials, beauty queens and the ever-popular “Skate Man.” But there are other stories that might not be heralded on banners or marked in the program.
Here’s a couple:
When the Snellville Middle School band passes by, you might want to notice the woman walking beside them. This will be the 27th Snellville Days Parade for Donna Pendergast, Snellville Middle School band director. It also will be her last as director of the band.
Ms. Pendergast, who has been at the middle school for 29 years (She’s been teaching for 32!), is retiring at the end of this school year. She conducted her last middle school concert earlier this week.
I can’t begin to imagine how many students and family members she has influenced in all of those years. My family is among them, with two of my three children studying music under her.
Ms. Pendergast said she missed only two of the last 29 annual parades — those because she attended the Georgia Music Educators Association All-State Band event in Savannah. The rest, however, have been an annual staple in her and her band members’ lives.
“The most memorable moment was the year one of the motorcycle riders in the parade fell and was injured during the parade,” she said. The rider was not seriously hurt, but the incident required the band to move to one side of the road for a fire truck, then immediately move to the other side to make way for the ambulance.
“The students kept marching and playing and never missed a beat,” she said. “It did make things exciting for a while.”
Two young women who studied under Ms. Pendergast are the subjects of another story reflected in the parade. You’ll find Allison (Allie) Rikard leading the South Gwinnett High School Band of Stars. Her younger sister, Abbey, will be leading the Snellville Middle School band. (You might notice the resemblance!)
The two drum majors — Allie, 18, and Abbey, 14 — are the daughters of Wayne and Susan Rikard of Snellville. Wayne Rikard is police chief for Gwinnett County Public Schools.
Allie, who has been drum major for two years, before which she played flute, is graduating this year and auditioning for the University of Georgia Redcoat Band.
Abbey, a trombone player, will be performing as drum major for the first time. She just recently earned the position in tryouts at the middle school and says “it’s harder than it looks,” marching backwards and conducting the band.
(Allie admitted to giving her sister a few helpful hints.)
The day will be a special one for the Rikard family because — despite the sisters’ shared interest in music — it will be the only time they can actually march in the same event, said Susan Rikard. Their four-year age difference keeps them in separate schools and separate bands.
Fellow band members have been kidding Allie about the event, she said.
“I think it’s kind of funny actually,” she said. “Some are calling it the Rikard parade.”
The theme of this year’s Snellville Days parade and festival is “A one-time event that has lasted 35 years.”
The slogan refers to the original plan for a single fund-raising event and how that has grown into a major annual tradition. But the slogan also provides unintended meaning.
Each year’s parade and festival is indeed a one-time event for some of its participants — setting the stage for special meaning and milestones in their lives.
We just don’t always notice it from the sidelines.
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