Amid threat of rain, Biden returns for July Fourth parade
Delawareans celebrate Independence Day under cloudy skies; flash flood watch issued for New Castle and Kent counties
- Overcast skies dominated most of Monday as Delawareans celebrated Independence Day.
- Numerous events were postponed as the forecast indicated heavy rains later in the day.
- Vice President Joe Biden attended the annual parade in Hockessin.
Independence Day celebrations across Delaware were postponed as rain and thunderstorms were forecast through the evening on Monday, but the annual parade in Hockessin went ahead with Vice President Joe Biden surprising onlookers along the route.
"Only in Delaware," said Scott Kreps, smiling after Biden passed by, shaking hands and posing for pictures.
"It's not very often you see the vice president of the U.S. come through their hometown parade," said Kreps' friend, Kristopher Starr. "Only in Hockessin."
Biden's Delaware house isn't far away, on Barley Mill Road in Greenville, and he's shown up at the Hockessin parade before, Starr said.
It was nice to see the vice president out and looking strong, Starr said, since his son, Beau Biden, died last spring of brain cancer and he decided last fall not to seek the presidency in the upcoming election. The vice president, who leaves office in January, last week held a summit in Washington on cancer, part of an effort by the Obama administration to increase research into the disease.
"He's had a rough year," Starr said.
That wasn't evident on Monday, though, seeing Biden striding from curb to curb on Old Lancaster Pike as crowds on each side called out "Joe!"
The vice president, who represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, smiled, shook hands and posed for hundreds of pictures. He sometimes dispensed advice.
"He took my face in his hands, and he told me not to get involved with any boys until I'm older," said Isabella Burnham, 17, who had set up lawn chairs with her parents.
They live near the Conrad Schools of Science, but they come to Hockessin every year for the Fourth of July parade. The streets are pretty, the antique cars are nice, and there are free hot dogs, explained her father, Jeff Burnham.
This year's parade had several antique cars, but there were more vehicles with the names of politicians seeking office slapped on the side. And there were the fantastical floats.
The Center for Creative Arts in Yorklyn put together a castle with a dragon on it for this year's parade, with the help of some of the campers in its summer program, said Gabe Neeld, the organization's program director.
The castle went with this year's camp theme, "Beyond Realism: The Art of Fantasy," he said, as half-dozen little girls wearing pastel princess gowns grinned in the flatbed of the truck pulling their castle, which was not weather-proof.
"If it rains, it rains," Neeld said, shrugging.
The threat of rain forced most Delaware communities to reschedule celebrations and fireworks, and forecasters warned about heavy downpours. A flash flood warning was issued for Kent and New Castle counties.
"There's a warm front that's listing northward," said Valerie Meola, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, on Monday afternoon. "If it looks dark to the south or the southwest, then it might be time to start moving things inside."
One of the largest, an annual Fourth of July festival and fireworks in Dover, was postponed until Sept. 3, the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Organizers said the threat of rain was too big a risk.
"This decision has been made out of concern for the safety of our audience, the clear weather needed not only to shoot the fireworks tonight but to set them up through the day, and also the desire to put on the best possible show for the people of our community," organizers said in a statement.
The fireworks and concert scheduled for the Riverfront in Wilmington will be postponed until Aug. 20, according to city spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge. They will now be part of the city's back-to-school celebration in August.
Middletown and Newark also shifted celebrations and fireworks to Tuesday evening. Both festivals are planned at 6 p.m. – at the University of Delaware Athletic Complex for Newark and Silver Lake Park for Middletown – with fireworks at dusk.
The same weather system that hit Delaware also prompted the White House to cancel its annual Fourth of July picnic and fireworks viewing in Washington. Communities across the Mid-Atlantic delayed events amid soggy conditions.
Heavy rains, however, missed the Hockessin parade, and Biden was able to greet and take photographs with those along the parade route.
One woman asked him if he would shake her uncle's hand, to which Biden quickly jogged up the yard to say hello.
"Wonderful guy," Edward Gormley said of seeing Biden at the parade.
The two men have known each other since they were young children, Gormley said.
As the hours passed after the parade and showers erupted and subsided in Hockessin, most trekked back to their vehicles and drove away. At 8:30 p.m. many of the attendees awaiting the dusk firework show sheltered in the backs of minivans or underneath tarps as a continuous drizzle kept the ground wet.
At her home on Valley Road near the Hockessin Public Library Fields, where the fireworks show was set, Dianne Brinton was hosting a family party. Although the rain kept most of the party underneath two large canopies in front of her garage, the children in her group weren't bothered by the drizzle.
"The little ones are waiting for the fireworks to start. They've been out in the rain all day," she said. "We might have to move out from the undercover when [the fireworks] go up."
Just after 9 p.m., the family's wait was rewarded with a display of reds, yellows, greens and purples that illuminated sky for about 15 minutes.
Reporter Esteban Parra contributed to this report.
Contact Saranac Hale Spencer at (302) 324-2909, sspencer@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SSpencerTNJ. Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.