TBT: The Alleghany Rattler, July 1953: Fourth of July

Editor’s Note:  As part of our year-long celebration of our 100th Year Anniversary (1922-2022), we’ll post a Throwback Thursday edition of our Alleghany Rattler Newspaper to give you a peek into life at camp across those 100 summers!

Take a look at what the Fourth of July looked like at ‘Ghany in 1953, hint: it looks a lot like the Fourth of July we celebrated a few days ago! Some of our favorite traditions happen on the Fourth including parades and fireworks!

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July started off like any day in our lives at Alleghany, but excitement mounted as the climax of the day drew near with the Fourth of July Parade.

The Senior Parade formed in front of the infirmary at about seven p.m., and soon the parade began.

The first two tents carried flags decorated with streamers. Other floats were The Spirit of ’76, Fire Crackers, Former Fourths at Alleghany, Washington Crossing the Delaware, The Boston Tea Party, The Two Little Confederates, and Washington Throwing the Silver Dollar across the Delaware River. The winners in the Senior Parade were: Former Fourths at Alleghany done by tents three and four; the float representing Francis Scott Kev writing the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the Firecrackers done by tent twenty-one.

The Junior Parade was centered around the Statue of Liberty. The girls were groups representing different nations, which gave the idea of friendship. Each group did a little dance. The Irish and Scotch were there, and we even had visitors from China who were dressed in colorful clothes. There were cowboys and Hawaiian hula girls also, 

The first prize went to the group composed of tents four, five, and six A. Second prize went to the Irish, done by tents seven, eight, and nine. Third prize went to the Statue of Liberty, Carolyn Koors.

After the parade, we went up on the hill to watch fireworks and eat ripco bars. Thus we spent a very enjoyable Fourth of July evening at Alleghany.

– Written by Ginny Cone