Monday, December 8, 2014

Va Flaggers 2014 Mechanicsville Rotary/Ruritan Christmas Parade

A slight chill, but a beautiful, sunny day yesterday greeted those who came out for the Mechanicsville Rotary/Ruritan Christmas Parade yesterday.

The Va Flaggers joined a large Confederate contingency that included the Capt. Sally Tompkins Chapter #2, Order of the Confederate Rose, Captain Wm Latane Camp #1690 SCV, Virginia Division United Daughters of the Confederacy, Edmund Ruffin FireEaters Camp #3000 SCV, Hanover Dragoons Camp #827 SCV, and the General W. C. Wickham Camp #2250, SCV.  Before the parade stepped off, we gathered as many as possible for a group photo:


We were honored to have Generals Stonewall Jackson (Greg Randall) and Robert E. Lee (George "Tex" Wells) leading our unit and they were enthusiastically received by the large crowds gathered along the two mile route.


We passed out over 700 stick flags, and still ran out well before the parade was over. All along the route we heard shouts of may I have a flag, please? Units behind us remarked at what a beautiful sight it was to see the streets lined with crowds of children and adults waving Confederate flags!



Rifle salutes from the Wm Latane Camp were a REAL crowd pleaser!


This little fella's Mother told us that as soon as he saw the men in uniform carrying the Confederate flags, he jumped up to attention and saluted, without any prompting...


All along the route, we were greeted with shouts of appreciation and when we led parade participants in singing "Dixie's Land", citizens joined in singing with us. 


For our Flaggers, it was a much appreciated and well deserved break from what can seem to be a constant battle against the haters and misinformed.  At one point, after receiving a particularly warm welcome from one large crowd, one of the Flaggers yelled to the other marchers "Who said Old Virginny was dead?", and someone in the crowd yelled back "NOT HERE!" which started another flood of applause and shouts of support! 





Many thanks to the parade organizers and all who participated in making this event so successful!  Mark your Calendars for the first Sunday in December, 2015, and let's DOUBLE the Confederate presence again next year! :)

The VaFlaggers



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