Parade

Blue sky overhead, dry ground below, sun shining down warmly and the temperature hovering in the high 60s. Perfect weather for the 71st Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, and a perfect setting for the estimated 500,000 who came to watch. Which is not to say everything was perfect. "It's not creative enough," said Simone Ruffin, 28. "I was disappointed. I mean, I didn't come all the way down here to look at a parade full of gaps. " Ruffin got up at 6:30 a.m. after staying up until 3:30 to clean her house and get a jump on Thanksgiving dinner.

From his perch inside the chauffeured golf cart, Cavalier Severino "Sevy" Verna Jr. scowled. The crowd at Broad and Snyder was a bit thinner than he'd like, but what do you expect at 12:30 p.m. on a Sunday? "It's gravy time. They're still stirring the macaroni," he explained, a 67-year-old Italian American with a hungry belly of his own. "They wouldn't care if Christopher Columbus himself came marching down the street. It's time to eat. " By 1 p.m., as Verna predicted, a healthy horde was waiting, balloons and silly string in hand, at Marconi Plaza at Broad Street and Oregon Avenue, the center of attractions for the annual Columbus Day parade.

A sea of red, white, and blue descended upon South Ocean City yesterday morning, when more than 1,000 cyclists of all ages displayed their patriotic-decorating skills in the annual holiday bike parade. Contestants found creative ways to spice up bicycles, scooters, and strollers with streamers, balloons, garlands, crepe paper, and leis, while participants donned stars-and-stripes hats, bandannas, shirts, and beads; Uncle Sam suits; and Statue of Liberty costumes. The festive group paraded a mile and a half along Central Avenue in just one of the many celebratory events held down the Shore on the Fourth of July.

For Channel 6, co-sponsors of Monday's parade in honor of Julius "Dr. J. " Erving, the smiles that usually accompany a parade didn't begin until the ratings came in yesterday. According to the local Nielsens, the gamble the station took by pre-empting afternoon soaps to provide live coverage of the parade paid off handsomely. Channel 6 came in first with a 12.6 rating and 39 share. Channels 10 and 3 - which stuck to their regular soaps lineup - scored 5.5/17 and 4.3/13 respectively, for the same time period.

Everything that happens in "Waiting for the Parade," which opened Wednesday night at the Walnut Street Studio Theatre, happens offstage. What the audience sees and hears in Canadian John Murrell's talky ensemble theater piece is five women living in Calgary during World War II reacting to events that take place elsewhere and occur, mostly, to other people. Each woman personifies a fairly typical feminine wartime situation: a young wife who finds solace with another man while her husband serves overseas; a club woman/organizer who marshals her cohorts into bandage brigades; a widow fearful for her sons; a woman whose husband is too old to fight; and a daughter whose German-born father has been interned for the duration.

JAMES RILEY seemed to feel out of place at his own parade. "This is really overwhelming," said the Army sergeant from Pennsauken who survived after being held prisoner in Iraq for three weeks. The town held a parade, complete with a marching band and fireworks, in his honor yesterday. "I never expected to be here, not in front of all you people," said the tall, reed-thin Riley, 31. He sat stiffly in front of the crowds, encased in his olive uniform, rarely cracking a smile.

WASHINGTON - It was altogether a more intimate affair than four years ago. Just a party of untold hundred thousands, chilling in the nation's backyard. President Obama's inauguration Monday brought out a festive crowd of flag-wavers who filled the National Mall to overflowing, hailed his moment with lusty cheers and spent their down time spotting celebrities amid the bunting. No match for the staggering masses and adrenaline-pumping energy of his first turn as president on the west front of the Capitol.

Of course the champagne was already in the Oilers' locker room. Of course plans for the parade were already in the newspapers. What did you expect the Oilers to do? Wait for the buzzer and send out for the Moet like it was pizza? Have a quiet celebration, team only, at Marty McSorley's place? Then again, if teams one game away from the Stanley Cup didn't plan ahead, what kind of questions would media persons ask when the opponent staves off elimination? Intelligent ones?

A parade from West Chester Henderson High School to the West Chester Community Center will precede Saturday's third Unity Potluck Dinner, an annual event that aims to build bridges between racial and ethnic groups in the area. The dinner is returning to the community center after being held at the high school last year. The first dinner, attended by more than 400, was held in the wake of a Ku Klux Klan march through West Chester. Sponsors say that growing racial and cultural tensions across the country add to the significance of this year's dinner.

A tip of a feathered Mummers cap to cable magnate and philanthropist extraordinaire H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, who put up a half-million dollars this week to support festivals and parades in the region. Lenfest's generous donation is sizable seed money for a newly created nonprofit, the Greater Philadelphia Traditions Fund, that will help the Mummers and other groups defray police, cleanup, and other costs. Organizers expect to up Lenfest's ante by seeking support from businesses. The nonprofit comes in response to budget problems that forced Mayor Nutter to begin charging festival and parade organizers for their events.