Deborah Wooley: Maintaining a Community Celebration

Every year crowds of people flock the streets of Clawson to watch the Fourth of July parade. The hour that it takes the parade to snake through town is the end result of dozens of hours put in by the Fourth of July Parade Committee led by Deborah Wooley.

Nine years ago, Wooley became involved with the committee and hasn’t left her role as chair since. She said a lot of time goes into planning the parade and every year she strives to add new participants. Along with new participants, she has been trying to find additional people to help with the parade planning.

“There are about 15 people total who help to put on the parade the day of and a few prior to that,” Wooley said. “It’s a lot of work.”

Wooley said it doesn’t matter how long people help but any additional hands would be great. Parade participation increased last year, and Wooley said it was the biggest collection of community members she has been able to get together yet.

“Everybody can participate for free except for politicians,” she said. “We are always looking for ideas and the more the merrier; we will still be adding people on July 3.”

Wooley has been a Clawson resident since 1967. She grew up in the community and even bought her parent’s house.

Wooley said the community spirit of Clawson is what made her want to stay. As a child she said she can remember watching the parade every year and wanted to help keep that activity alive so her three children could share the same memories.

“It brings the community together,” Wooley said. “It’s a special celebration and a longstanding tradition here in town.”

Every year she would attend the Fourth of July parade and wondered why there weren’t more marching bands heading the police cars, floats and area organizations. Her desire for more bands sauntering down Main Street is what led her to join the committee to begin with.

Unfortunately, with all that goes into putting on the celebratory parade, there isn’t much in the budget left to attract area marching bands, she said. Likewise, many bands have their own hometown commitments for that specific gathering. So, even though she hasn’t been able to turn that aspect of the parade around, she is still plugging away at trying to make it bigger and better every year.

“It’s amazing how in the end it all comes off,” Wooley said. “It’s a great sense of accomplishment.”

Clawson Patch wants to feature more great volunteers in the community. We could use your help in searching for those philanthropic folk. We’re not looking for Hercules or Superman; we’re more interested in hometown heroes. If you have a volunteer in mind, email Local Editor Nicquel Terry at nicquel.terry@patch.com.