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By MEGHAN V. MALLOY 07/05/2008

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Re-enactor Brent Corson reads The Declaration of Independence aloud on Friday at Old Fort Western after the parade in Augusta. Costumed Fort staffers led celebratory liberty toasts and fired off a cannon after the reading.

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Over four hundred runners took off from Memorial Drive on Friday morning to start the sixth annual Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed “Friends on the Fourth” 5K Road Race in Winthrop. Luke Fontaine, 16 of Augusta, was the first male finisher in a time of 16:16. Lauren LaRoche, 22 of Farmington, finished 12th overall and was the first woman at 18:14.

enlarge Staff photo by Joe Phelan

HIGH HATS: Wearing their home-made patriotic Uncle Sam hats, Brandon Theriault, left, and Hailey Theriault, of Augusta, wave at passing floats on Friday along Water Street during Augusta's Independence Day parade. Their mother Sarah Theriault said that they painted the red,white and blue top hats themselves.

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Hundreds of runners and walkers kicked off the birthday of our nation in a slightly unusual, but healthy, way.

Participants — some bedecked in red, white and blue, from elementary school age to retirees — gathered on Memorial Drive in Winthrop for the sixth annual Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed “Friends on the Fourth” 5K Road Race.

“It’s something different to do to support the Fourth (of July),” said Amy Smith, of Belgrade. “Also, I am training for a marathon next year, and this is a good way to get ready for it.”

Some runners took off with a bolt at the crack of the starting gun, while others were content to leisurely stroll and take in the Independence Day morning.

From the sidelines, Darryl Stewart, of Augusta cheered on his wife along with the couple’s 20-month-old daughter, Addison.

“It’s different,” Stewart said of the Fourth of July race. “I think it’s great, though.”

After the vigorous morning run, the Stewarts had plans to spend the rest of the day in Bath with family.
Cony High School track star Luke Fontaine, 16, finished first overall with a time of 16 minutes, 16 seconds. He finished neck-and-neck with recent Winthrop graduate Dan Soltan, 18.

Lauren LaRoche, of Farmington, was the first woman overall to complete the 5K, with a time of 18 minutes, 13 seconds.

Later in the morning, the lower half of Western Avenue and all of Water Street were packed 45 minutes before the Augusta parade commenced. The parade started on Western Avenue, rounded Memorial Circle then continued down into historic downtown before crossing the river to Fort Western.

The Augusta parade had all the makings of Americana tradition, including Shriners on motorbikes, antique John Deere tractors and vehicles, and an elaborate motorcade featuring the Augusta Police Department and the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office. Children were poised on the curbs with plastic shopping sacks, ready to collect treats thrown to them from the passing cars and floats.

Elsie Viles served as grand marshal of the Augusta parade in a classic baby-blue colored car.

Sydney Partridge, 11, had two very specific things to be on the lookout for as she and her parents, Chuck and Tina Partridge, watched the parade march, drive and honk down Water Street.
“I like the dancers, and the horses,” Sydney said.
Much to the child’s delight, there were dance and baton twirling troops from Nicole’s School of Dance in Manchester and the Main-E-Acts. There were also several horses in the parade, including a miniature spotted pony and a magnificent black steed pulling a buggy.

The parade, which lasted well over an hour and a half, is part of a tradition, Sydney Partridge’s father, Chuck Partridge, said.
“We were on the fence about going, but it just doesn’t seem like the Fourth of July without going to the parade,” he said.

Traditional or not, there were some unexpected surprises.
As the Augusta Little League All-Star baseball team drove down Water Street, squirting the crowd with water guns, two girls had a plan to retaliate against the boys. As the float passed the girls — who seemed to be deliberate victims of the squirt gun frenzy — pelted the boys with water balloons, causing the crowd to erupt in laughter and a water war to ensue.

The pelting was a planned prank, All-Star team parent Tim Rodrigue said.
“Just settling the score,” he added with a chuckle.

Meghan V. Malloy — 623-3811 Ext. 431
mmalloy@centralmaine.com

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