Parade

Baltimore County politicians and business leaders will lead a parade marking the opening of the Red Run Boulevard extension in Owings Mills on Tuesday.The three-mile, $11 million road opens the way to seven development projects in Owings Mills, including regional headquarters for Automatic Data Processing Inc., which provides human resources and payroll software, and a 100,000-square-foot office building in Red Run Corporate Center.The parade will begin at 10 a.m. and end at Franklin Boulevard.

What's a community parade without fire trucks and firefighters?Well, we're about to find out -- and we're about to see if anyone other than firefighters and their friends and families notice and complain.The county's biggest public event, the annual Bel Air Independence Day Parade and fireworks, won't have any fire trucks or firemen in the march this Fourth of July.The chiefs of all 13 volunteer fire companies decided last week to pull out of the parade, which easily attracts 40,000 to 50,000 spectators annually.

WHILE THE rest of us are busy decorating our homes for the holiday season, members of the Marley Boat Club are engrossed in decking out their boats with hundreds of lights in preparation for this weekend's annual lighted boat parade."

To celebrate Halloween, Carroll County towns and shopping centers have planned parades, costume contests, trick-or-treating times and other activities, including the following: Westminster: Trick or treating from dusk until 8 p.m. Wednesday inside city limits. Children age 12 and younger can make the rounds with a parent or adult guardian. Trick or treaters are encouraged to wear light-colored clothing for safety. Residents wishing to participate should turn on porch lights. Information: 410-848-9000.

For the first time in several years, Towson University will kick off its homecoming festivities with a parade - an expanded version that county and university officials hope will draw more people to the campus celebration. The parade, which will start at noon today in the center of Towson at Bosley and Allegheny avenues, is part of an effort to bring the university and the greater Towson community closer, officials said. University President Robert L. Caret "is just very desirous of us being part of uptown and uptown being part of us - and people liking it," said Susanna Craine, the university's spokeswoman.

THE SINGLE event that most typifies the spirit of greater Severna Park, and a key reason we think of it as "the greatest little community in the U.S.A.," is the Fourth of July parade sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.Scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Martin's in the Field and Our Shepherd churches, across Benfield Road from each other, this year's Star-Spangled Spectacular will move down Benfield to Evergreen and Riggs roads, then to Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard, ending at a family festival of food and games in the Park Plaza shopping center.

As reported Oct. 29, 1948, in The Sun: "Ellicott City last night opened a new county-owned parking lot with a parade which was witnessed by approximately 8,000 persons. "The 350-car lot, which will be free, is located behind the post office adjacent to the main business section of the town. "According to Robert Weigel, who was in charge of last night's celebration, the parking lot was developed by Howard County, through the efforts of the Business Men's Association of Ellicott City. "Land for the lot was deeded to the county by Isaac H. Taylor, Max Goodman and Charles E. Miller, members of the association, who believed that the town badly needed more off-street parking facilities, Mr. Weigel said.

America is no land of dreams these days, but I have a specific suggestion for the white people of Baltimore today: Get up and go to the city's sixth parade honoring the memory and birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The fun starts at noon. I covered the inaugural parade five years ago and witnessed what a joyous occasion it is in the city's collective life. But time and again, whites have been notably absent among the thousands of faces lining the streets of West Baltimore, starting at Eutaw Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

NEW YORK -- Outside a subway stop on Broadway, Cool Mo hawks Desert Storm victory T-shirts: "Say you was there! Five dollars, five dollars!"Business was slow yesterday, he said, even on the eve of what was supposed to be the biggest of all homecoming parades for the troops -- up lower Broadway's skyscraper-lined "Canyon of Heroes," where Charles Lindbergh, World War II GIs, and more recently, South Africa's Nelson Mandela, had been greeted with showers of...

The Ferndale-Linthicum Area Community Council will present the 14th annual Ferndale Day this Sunday. The celebration is a day of community participation and includes a parade, music, games, crafts, food anda beauty pageant.The schedule begins at noon with more than 50 booths and stands set up along Broadview Boulevard in the area of the Ferndale Fire Department. There will be a large selection of foods, such as crab cakes, pit beef and crepes along with the usual pizza andhot dogs. Some of the booths will feature homemade crafts.