Southport Parade, Featuring Gov.'s Horse Guard, Set for Saturday

Just because the town's Memorial Day Parade is over doesn't mean residents have to wait a year to enjoy another parade.

The Southport Street Parade and Blessing of the Fleet, an annual event in the town's scenic Southport neighborhood for about the past 15 years, will step off at 11 a.m. Saturday from Trinity Episcopal Church's parking lot by the corner of Pequot Avenue and Center Street.

"It's just a fun family event. It's a great community event for Southport and Fairfield," said Tim Russell, an owner of the Russell Agency in Southport and parade committee chairman.

After the parade winds down at Lower Wharf, a scenic town-owned park on Harbor Road, residents can enjoy free hot dogs, courtesy of the Southport Volunteer Fire Department; free ice cream, courtesy of Parker Rogers Interior Design in Southport; and free shortcake, courtesy of Southport Congregational Church.

The Southport Street Parade was started about 15 years ago as a community event by the late Harris Russell, Tim's father, said Steve Galpin, a Southport resident who started the Blessing of the Fleet about 20 years ago.

"It's a simple, delightful, community event," Galpin said, adding that about 200 people usually follow the parade to Lower Wharf, while hundreds more watch the parade go by.

The Southport parade isn't as large as the town's Memorial Day Parade, but it's scheduled to include the 2nd Company Governor's Horse Guard, the Gaelic-American Club Pipe & Drum Band, the Stony Creek Fife and Drum Band, Mattituck Drum Band, Grand Republic Fife and Drum Band, police officers, Fairfield firefighters, members of the Southport Volunteer Fire Department, the Milford Volunteers Ancient Fife & Drum Band, the Fab Four Bicycle Troupe and New York Ancients Fife and Drum Band.

Also scheduled to march in the parade are representatives from Pequot Library, Pequot Yacht Club and Wakeman Boys and Girls Club; Grand Marshals Gerry and Jack Ringel from Switzer's Pharmacy in Southport; Eagle Hill School students and Eagle Hill miniature horses; Fr. Mark Glidden from Trinity Church; the Rev. Paul Whitmore, the Rev. Sharon Blackburn and the Rev. Laura Whitmore, all from Southport Congregational Church; the Rev. John Twiname from the Congregational Church of Greens Farms; Deacon Dan Ianniello from St. Thomas Church; and town and state dignataries.

Eagle Hill School, by the corner of Main Street and Harbor Road, will hold a pancake breakfast from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, and People's Bank on Main Street will have an open house, Russell said.

Russell estimated that 500 to 600 people would turn out for Saturday's parade and said parade-watchers are welcome to march in the parade after the New York Ancients Fife and Drum Band, the last group in the order of march, has passed by.

The parade begins at 11 a.m. by Trinity Church's parking lot and heads east on Pequot Avenue through the center of Southport's small business district before turning right onto Main Street. The parade continues on Main Street to the corner of Main Street and Harbor Road and then travels on Harbor Road before ending at Lower Wharf, which is about a dozen yards past Ye Yacht Yard.

Clergy who marched in the parade will then bless about 50 boats as they sail by Lower Wharf toward Long Island Sound.

Southport residents, business owners and neighborhood groups contribute money every year to put on the Southport Street Parade and Blessing of the Fleet, Russell said.

"The parade costs $7,000 every year. Every year we send out a donation letter, and every year we get enough to put on the parade," he said.