OSCEOLA MILLS

Red, white and blue tradition

Lori Falce, For the CDT

OSCEOLA MILLS — Osceola Mills throws a birthday party every year, and no one turns down the invitation.

The Columbia Fire Company’s 87th annual Fourth of July parade closed down streets, caused detours and traffic jams for hours and turned the one-third square mile Clearfield County borough into the most densely packed party without a cover fee and a velvet rope.

Every street on the parade route is lined with chairs, some put out the night before as longtime spectators stake their claims to the seats they’ve found, giving the maximum viewing of the seemingly unending caravan of marching bands and firetrucks, but still close enough to dart back into the closest family yard for a hot dog or a chicken leg.

On Lingle Street, the parties flow osmotically from porch to porch. People you’ve never met are happy to ask you in for a burger or some of Grandma’s deviled eggs. Teresa Roberts, of Philipsburg, has been in the same spot in front of the same house for years.

“It’s a family tradition. This is what you do,” she said. “I’ve done it as long as I can remember.”

Matea Breon, 9, sat at the corner of the park on Curtin Street, nursing a snow cone and waiting for the parade Saturday.

“I come with my mom every year,” she said. And what’s her favorite part? “Everything!”

There are always first-timers, of course. Brett Sherkel, 9, of Janesville, was excited to get a prime seat on the curb. The draw? “Candy!” he said, clustered with other kids eagerly clutching grocery bags and waiting to be pelted with Tootsie Rolls and lollipops.

But other kids just wanted to be part of the whole red, white and blue day. Tyler Lobb, 3, wouldn’t miss it for the world, even after having a tumor removed from his leg two weeks ago. Parents Craig and Deanna Lobb, of Brisbin, covered his braced and bandaged leg with stars-and-stripes cloth, and wheeled him to the best seat in the house at the corner of Curtin and Stone streets so he wouldn’t miss 20 years. It’s not the chance to swelter in the sun and get callouses from miles of roll-stepping that brings the Marching Mounties back every year.

“It’s the people on the street, and the hometown cheers,” she said.