Six Model A’s turned out for the Sussex-Wantage 250th Anniversary Parade on July 18th, helping celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial.
On a beautiful day in July, we gathered at the Airport Diner in Sussex around noon, then made the short drive to our assigned spot in the lineup. The hour-long wait in the hot sun wasn’t ideal. However, it gave us time to catch up with friends, and decorate the cars with the red, white and blue streamers kindly provided by Rita Morgan before the 2 o’clock start.
The mile-long route ran down Route 23 and turned onto Main Street, through the middle of downtown Sussex. The crowd there was three deep, and the A’s were a hit, especially Bruce’s bus, all drawing waves and cheers the whole way through.
Main Street was slow going, with a sizable hill that had me quietly praying my car didn’t overheat and boil over in the middle of town. Thankfully, I didn’t have to suffer that indignity.
The day wasn’t entirely without incident. Just past the official end of the route, one of the cars began backfiring badly and died. Several spectators rushed over and helped push it into a nearby parking lot, where the trouble could be sorted out.
From there we headed to nearby Woodbourne Park, where the celebration continued with music, food, cold drinks and homemade ice cream, a fitting finish to a fine day.
