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MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Parade co-chair is ‘one of those people who pull the wagon’
FILE
Members of the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce
march in the city’s 2012 Fourth of July parade.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
... It’s a small-town thing.”
The parade’s not her only volunteer
job. Tallmadge has held PTA and other
school-related posts, run scout groups,
served as swim team mom, sung in the
church choir. In recent years, she’s over
seen the DHA’s annual Light Up Dun-
woody, its outdoor Christmas light show
and celebration.
“She is the Ener
gizer Bunny of volun
teers,” said Bill Gross-
man, secretary and
past president of the
DHA.
Last year, the
homeowners group awarded her its
“Citizen of the Year” award for her vol
unteer work. After the presentation, for
mer Mayor Ken Wright joked she was
Dunwoody’s Wonder Woman. “I’m sur
prised you don’t have a cape,” he said.
She’s won plenty of fans for her vol
unteer work in Dunwoody.
“The world is only made up with two
or three percent of the people who actu
ally get things done,” said current Dun
woody Mayor Mike Davis. “She’s one of
the people who pull the wagon.”
Dunwoody residents take pride in
the parade and its success. The event,
sponsored by the DHA and the Dun
woody Crier, a community newspaper,
draws more than 30,000 to the north
DeKalb city, the DHA says.
“It’s kind of amazing that right here
in Dunwoody, we have the largest pa
rade,” Tallmadge said. “It’s kind of spec
tacular.”
The Dunwoody Women’s Club
staged the city’s first July 4 parade in
1976. It continued
for five years and
then ended for lack
of a chairperson, the
DHA website says.
The parade was re
vived with DHA
sponsorship in 1991,
and has been growing ever since. Now,
“anybody who’s home on the Fourth is
at the parade,” Tallmadge said.
Once things get going, spectators
have lots to see. Tallmadge expects this
year’s parade, which begins at 9 a.m.,
will include up to 170 spots for entrees.
That’s up from about 120 when she took
over.
The parade includes everything
from marching bands to displays from
churches to military veterans to a group
that likes to dress up as pirates. About 50
floats will roll past the gathered parade-
watchers. Tallmadge hopes to someday
attract the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
New this year? Horses. An eques
trian color guard and a horse-drawn
stagecoach advertizing a national bank
chain are both signed up to take part.
“We’ve never had horses before,” Tall
madge said. “We have had dog units —
the pug club,’ the ‘Westy club’ — but
not horses.”
The parade’s final spot, she said,
goes each year to DeKalb County san
itation workers. She said they’re greeted
in Dunwoody’s July 4 parade with the
kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for
Santa Claus in most community Christ
mas parades. “They always get big ap
plause,” she said.
As she closes in on her eighth July 4
parade, Tallmadge has no plans to give
up her post any time soon.
“I love it,” Tallmadge said. “July 5 is
kind of like Christmas afternoon at our
house. It’s over. All my email gets real
ly quiet. I’m like, ‘Where did my friends
Do you know an organization or
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20 | JUNE28 — JULY 11, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
