What a 4th!

 
 

Once again, our community pulled off a fantastic 4th of July celebration!  It is one of the most unique 4th of July events in Annapolis, starting with a parade filled with amazing handcrafted floats, local fire trucks, our own Officer Mike Olds and a retired Naval Office Jay Green as our Grand Marshal. [Photo credit above: Patrick Winterschladen]

Followed by more fun at the family picnic and (of course) competitive games!  It’s so much fun to participate and even more special when you take a step back and soak in the community spirit and camaraderie. The float competition was fierce!  Congratulations to the Bay Ridge Baby Boom float for winning the first ever, ceremonial BAY RIDGE CUP!

Before we go further, an important broadcast message needs airing:

Because I know they would never call attention to themselves, a huge thank you to Mary Wallace and Meredith Howe for orchestrating this entire celebration. Hundreds of participants, thousands of details and countless tasks to coordinate—its no small feat. Mary has kindly offered her time, talents and recruitment skills as the “Big Boss” for several years in a row now, and Meredith brought fresh thinking, new ideas and hard work to make our celebration more memorable than ever. Thank you, thank you to both. Now, back to our regularly scheduled message.

There are so many people to thank for the hours they dedicated helping with the celebration; we sincerely appreciate everyone who worked on a float, donated a baked good, volunteered time, resources and muscle.  Thank you!  Without you there would be no celebration.

A very special thanks to:

Duncan Bradbury & Grumps for donating the 4th of July food.  (Second year in a row that Gumps has graciously supplied the fantastic burgers, dogs and chicken, thank you!)

Annapolis Wine & Spirits for the case of wine that was donated.

Thank you to all our generous raffle donors! Its a great fundraiser for the community:

  • Parker Jones & Annapolis Bike & Sport
  • Julie Nogiuera & Yoga By the Bay 
  • Mosquito Man
  • Rockstar Bay Ridge Women: Manelle Martino & Capital Teas, Cameron Bach & Quirk and Bach, Cindy Sweet Wells’ pottery
  • Kate and Shendan Grove & Paddleboard lessons
  • Michael Stellabotte for Wakeboard Lessons

Dean D’Camera & the D’Camera Group for the ceremonial Bay Ridge Cup! Kicking off a great new tradition.

Ken Balenske and Greg Kenefick coordinating the grills and their crew of grill masters for enduring the hot grills and cooking fantastic burgers, dogs and chicken.

Kevin Cline and the entire set up and tear down crew; it’s amazing how quickly and smoothly the set up and tear down went this year (despite the wind and pending storms)  There would be no event without their muscle.

Lew Bobbit and his crew for coordinating the beer, wine, water and soda and for serving beverages to the hot and thirsty crowd.

Rose Jones for organizing the Margaritas; making many thirsty adults happy.

Greg and Gillian Conner and their crew for manning and coordinating the ticket and raffle booth.  Amazing job keeping everyone well supplied with tickets.

Lynn Morris and the incredible servers who were hustling with not a moment to breathe while organizing and serving the masses delicious food.

Bill Cable and his handsome assistants, Dean D’Camera and Gary Schneider for coordinating the games.  Great competition and fun for all!

The Entire Swim Team Crew for delivering refreshing snow cones up until the last person reluctantly left the field.

Jessie Rhines who organized the Bake Sale and all the wonderful residents who contributed the delicious delights (and made it oh-so-fun, too!)

Meredith Van De Kamp for designing the 4th flyer and raffle tickets and of course coordinating the delivery.

Holly Moring for keeping us all informed with up to date information.

Thank you all for a wonderful celebration.

The 4th of July Committee

* Please feel free to mention in comments anyone that we may have forgotten, we’re all busy volunteers so please pardon any oversights!

 

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