An Elsmere neighborhood came alive with the sounds of music and cheers on a cloudy morning as the 30th Erlanger-Elsmere Annual Community Reunion parade rolled through on Aug. 31.
Beginning from a parking lot just off Dixie Highway, between St. Henry Roman Catholic Church and the Quality Cleaners dry cleaning business, dozens of parade participants proceeded by car, bicycle and on foot through Cross Street and Garvey Avenue, took a turn down Shaw Avenue and then Capitol Street.
The parade concluded at Rosella Porterfield Park, where Cincinnati youth dance team Royal Diamonds and Northern Kentucky University’s Norse cheerleaders gave brief performances.
Spearheaded by a fire-breathing performer, the parade was also joined by a Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) shuttle bus and Erlanger-Elsmere Fire Department vehicles.
A driver tossed candy to the neighborhood’s children. At the park, Porterfield’s son David French expressed gratitude that his mother was able to see the community reunion before she passed away in 2004, and in attendance were several of his cousins who came from Lexington and Ohio.
The annual event dates back to 1994, kickstarted by George Baker, Sr., Mike Willis and Rick Tyler as a way to reunite a few Black families in the two cities and to bring the community together.
Baker’s niece Natalia Gardner is currently serving as president for the Erlanger-Elsmere Labor Day Reunion. Other planning committee members include Eileen Baker—who has a niece in the Royal Diamonds dance crew—and Jacqueline “Jackie” Johnson—whose son brought two vintage Pontiacs to the parade this year.
A string of activities typically took place in the park on Saturday after the parade, including an outdoor lunch of hot dogs and pizza, a bounce house, color guard, cornhole, kickball and potato sack racing.
A children’s talent show and basketball game are scheduled for the afternoon. Sunday will see a church concert and a community dinner. Planning for the reunion can take about a year, which began again on Monday, according to Gardner.
“Back in the day when my parents were growing up in Elsmere, everybody knew everybody. Now new people come in and old people have moved out, it’s important for the community to know each other,” Gardner said. “When everybody is out here, white, Black, Hispanic, all nationalities come out here, we get to introduce ourselves and provide free food and resources to them that they may not know of.”
Kroger, the event’s sponsor, set up a table at the park alongside the local U.S. Army recruiters, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and the writer Randall Daniels.
Gardner hopes that the event will bring out even more people in the years to come. “Every year, I hope it just grows and grows,” she said.
