Takoma Park Newsletter: Gene Herman Leads the Parade
For more than 50 years, Gene Herman has been working behind the floats to pull together Takoma Park’s iconic Independence Day parade and evening festivities. And for many of those years, he has been the driver in the car at the end of the parade with the image of Porky Pig telling parade watchers, “That’s All, Folks!”
This year, Gene will be heading the parade as the grand marshal, a role that he calls “humbling” as he references past grand marshals, such as U.S. Rep Jamie Raskin, who was recognized in last year’s parade.
Tara Egan, the president of the Takoma Park Independence Day Committee, can’t think of a more deserving person than Gene to be honored.
“It’s hard to imagine that the 4th of July parade would still be taking place in Takoma Park without him,” says Tara. “Over the years, as I’ve gotten to know more volunteers who are part of the 4th of July in Takoma Park, I’ve come to appreciate how many began their service because of Gene—whose own commitment to community service runs to his core. They just couldn’t say no.”
Gene, himself, was asked to join the July 4 committee shortly after he and his wife, Esther, moved to the city in 1972.
“We had a friend up the street who was on the city council,” says Gene. “I think it was 1973 or 1974 when he approached me about helping out for a year on the committee. So I accepted. And then Belle Ziegler, who used to be the head of the Recreation Department, asked me to stay on. And she was a person you could not say no to.”
Gene went from committee member to vice president to president of the committee, where he served for several decades before passing the baton to his previous vice president, Tara Egan. Gene is quick to reiterate that although he has passed the role of president to the next generation, he remains an active member of the committee.
Each year, in July or August, after the parade and evening festivities, the committee meets for a closing session to tie up loose ends and evaluate the activities for that year. Then there is a hiatus until January, when the committee chooses a theme and starts initial planning. The spring is a busy time as the committee lines up music, applies for permits and insurance, and registers parade units so that by May, most things are in place for the day of celebration. The parade route traditionally crosses the D.C. line at Maple Street, which requires coordination with the District—and accounts for those rare instances when the parade has had to detour onto Willow Avenue within the city of Takoma Park.
On the day of the parade, things tend to go smoothly, says Gene, although he does recall one year when a fl oat caught on fire and several occasions when a July 3 storm dropped trees on the parade route.
“There have been issues with the traffi c, and sometimes the fi rst unit in the parade is late,” says Gene, “but in general, the parade goes on.”
As do the evening festivities. The fireworks are a thing of the past due to the reconfiguration of Lee Jordan Field behind Takoma Park Middle School. Still, the party continues, with Gene harmonizing on his euphonium with the rest of the Takoma Park Community Band. As with the Independence Day Committee, Gene joined the band in 1974 and now calls himself the “elder statesman” as the remaining member who dates back to the earliest days.
The Committee Band generally plays four concerts a year, with the Independence Day gig reaching its biggest audience, playing a mix of Sousa, big band, and Latin jazz. This year, the Community Band will be followed by the JoGo Project, a gogo band—appropriate to the Washington, D.C. metro area, the birthplace of gogo. The evening events, which start at 6 p.m., have moved to Maple Avenue in front of the Community Center for a citywide block party, featuring games, food, and music.
Gene, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked at his parent’s small grocery store. His interest in astronomy called him to Berkeley, California, to attend the University of California tuition-free—in exchange for two years of ROTC. While studying, Gene became more interested in health and changed his major to biochemistry. In 1965, he earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology at the California Medical Center in San Francisco, with a focus on cancer research.
Then commissioned by the Army, Gene had the good fortune to be assigned to the Walter Reed Army Research Institute, which brought him to the D.C. region. He stayed and built a career at the FDA and the Cancer Research Institute.
Gene has seen a lot of changes in Takoma Park over the years. For one thing, it was a dry town when he moved in due to the legacy of the Seventh-Day Adventist community. And although Takoma Park is now considered by many to be a tiny progressive enclave, it had a reputation as “Tacky Park” in those days.
“When we first moved to Takoma Park, people thought we were crazy because it did not have a good reputation,” he says. At that time, many houses in Takoma Park were divided as a result of policies during World War II to provide more affordable housing for government workers and veterans. Gene was active in efforts to continue to provide people with fair housing.
With four children, Gene and Esther were also active in the schools. “The school board was starting to think about closing schools, and one of the first places they looked was Takoma Park because, in their
minds, this was becoming a minority community,” says Gene. “They were complaining about racial imbalance and declining enrollment.” The schools were neglected, says Gene, citing uncovered electrical sockets at the school that his daughter attended. While organized parents could not save all of the local schools, they succeeded in keeping Piney Branch Elementary School open.
Independence Day activities have been a constant thread throughout those years, with a few variations.
“We used to have military units,” says Gene. “But they have suffered membership loss, so they don’t really come to the parade as much. And we used to have many more floats than we do now, and more children in the parade.” He misses the Washington Adventist University Acro-Airs, who used to send gymnasts flying over the streets of the city, and he encourages neighborhoods and community groups to sign up for the parade and show their independent spirit.
Gene notes that although political theatre at the parade has increased since the election of George W. Bush in 2000, the
committee is careful to be nonpartisan. It limits the number of marchers who can accompany elected officials and allows groups into the parade that many committee members differ with politically.
When asked what explains his commitment to July 4, Gene replies, “I am a little patriotic, and here is an opportunity that the city provided to have a citywide celebration of independence.” He also notes that “it’s one committee where you start meeting, and there actually is an end result.”
Takoma Park Independence Day Committee President Tara Egan notes that the theme this year is “Harmony in Takoma Park,” words that fits Gene perfectly as the longtime harmonizer of the July 4 parade and as the man behind the euphonium in the Community Band.
This article appeared in the July Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.
