Honoring Delray’s Eagle Scouts. Delray Beach,  Florida downtown so all can see. March 24,  2023.  Paul Goldfinger photo.   Blogfinger.net Click to enlarge.

Where are the Eagle Scouts in our July 4 parade?  That absence is a disgrace as is the absence of active duty military.  And where is a true Sousa -type marching band, and where are the Boy and Girl Scouts as well as Cub Scouts (I was once with bro’ Mel) and Brownies (I was not one.)   And why can’t we get the Neptune High School marching fliers in full force  for this parade?

July 4  commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the 2nd Continental Congress on July 4, 1776,  thus establishing the United States of America.

Why does the OGCMA fail to adequately indicate what that holiday parade should be  about, and why do they not have the parade on July 4?

There is insufficient patriotism in the OG parade to make an impression on the kids and even adults  who will be attending. They should call our parade “The Ocean Grove/CMA  celebrity parade.”

This parade should be taken out of the hands of the CMA which doesn’t have enough money or desire to do it right.

Instead, the entire Township of Neptune should be invited and welcomed  to the Grove for a proper celebration.  And local groups, as always, including the Ladies Auxiliary, Beautification, Police,  Fire, and others should be included, as usual,  but  this time to include all the Neptune organizations of which there are many and which are currently not included in this nearly all-white peoples’ event. And how about thousands of small flags.

And then Michael Badger has the nerve of accusing Grovers of racism when he talks about people who can ‘t afford to visit our beaches.

And finally, there aren’t nearly enough flags hung from our homes.  There were more 20 years ago.

Paul Goldfinger , MD,  Editor of Blogfinger.net, and proud US veteran including many friends, neighbors,  and family who also served.

THE UNITED STATES MARINE BAND.  John Phillip Sousa’s “Washington Post March.”

Sousa often visited OG with his band, and the CMA was quite patriotic back then with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders on the Pathway, and Civil War (black) re-enactors  here yearly.  They were sent away by the OG Fire Dept. because of their camp fires, but now the CMA has bonfires regularly on the beach.