Published: July 16, 2008 01:02 am            

CANAL FEST: Parade draws thousands to Twin Cities

When it comes to the annual Canal Fest parade, the early bird gets the best view.

Mary Ann Steiner plopped two chairs down near the corner of Main and Young streets in the City of Tonawanda at 8 a.m. Tuesday to stake out a prime spot for her and her 4-year-old granddaughter, Cheyenne Markward, to watch the annual parade.

Tuesday’s event drew thousands of eager parade-watchers, many of them children, who lined the downtown streets in Tonawanda and North Tonawanda.

“You have to come very early,” Steiner said shortly before the parade began. “At 8 o’clock in the morning I had to come put our chairs out here. We came back at 3 and walked around and had ice cream and played bubbles,” she said. Cheyenne was looking forward to seeing the balloons and fire trucks.

Over in North Tonawanda, near Main and Goundry streets, Rocky and Mary Marra were sitting along the curb eating pizza from Hoagie Brothers with their three children, ages 6 and 9.

“We go every year at this spot,” Mary Marra said. “It’s funny, because we look across the street and see the same people there. We’re creatures of habit.”

The Marras’ children enjoy seeing the clowns and cheerleaders performing their routines. “It’s a huge parade. It lasts for like an hour and a half,” said Mary, who grew up in North Tonawanda. “I see a lot of people that moved away and we reminisce.”

While the marching bands, bag pipers and fire trucks are the big draw for some, candy is the main attraction for many little parade-goers. “I want to get it so I need 6,000 bags,” said 6-year-old Jacob Gaydos, who was stationed on Main Street in front of the Tonawanda Towers with his twin brother Jordan and friends Brett and Brie Sitzman, all of Wheatfield.

Each child had their own plastic bag and were anxiously waiting for the parade to start. “I’m excited, and getting hot like a fire,” said Brett, using his bag to block the sun.

Of course, no Canal Fest parade would be complete without the annual “Mayor’s Ride,” in which the mayor of the losing side in the previous day’s “tug of war” between Tonawanda and North Tonawanda officials pushes the winning city’s mayor over the Delaware Street bridge in a wheelbarrow.

For yet another year, Tonawanda Mayor Ron Pilozzi had to push NT Mayor Larry Soos. When asked if it gets any easier to push him, Pilozzi said, “It gets more painful each year.”

Another highlight of this year’s Canal Fest is “Ben Risney, X-Treme Art Sculptor,” who can be seen at various times each day on the lawn of the Long Homestead using chain saws to carve animals from tree stumps. The crowd grew larger Tuesday evening as Risney carved a bird. “I think it’s very interesting. I wish I could handle it that way,” said Norm Whitchurch of the Town of Tonawanda.

At first, Whitchurch thought Risney was carving an eagle, but he quickly changed his mind. “Now I’m beginning to think it’s a sea gull.”

Today’s highlights include:

n The 10th annual car cruise, which runs from 6 to 10 p.m. along Main and Broad streets in Tonawanda to Webster and Goundry streets in North Tonawanda.

n A demonstration by the North Tonawanda K9 Patrol, starting at 4 p.m. at Webster and Sweeney streets.

n “Pay One Price” ride special, which is $15 with a coupon or $20 without it.

n The band Disco Duck performing at the Gateway Stage, Sweeney Street, from 8 to 11 p.m.

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.

        

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