NILES CHEERED!
Suddenly folks were cheering! They were waving at us! Some folks yelled, “Thank you!” It was amazing! Who knew so many folks had noticed the little band we call the Grabberwalkie Garbage Gang picking up litter on Wednesday mornings? But they had.
Fifteen Grabberwalkies and other Villager volunteers had just walked from the Veterans Memorial Hall at 2nd and E Streets when the group reached the official start for the Niles Festival of Lights Parade and the crowd started cheering. Beth Rasler and Iris Nicholson carried the Greater Niles Village banner at the front of our procession. Also in front, Barb Howard had donned her Christmas tree costume and was pulling her red wagon filled with gift-wrapped boxes, a far cry from the normal load of recyclables we usually collect on Wednesday mornings.
A few months earlier, Barb Howard had checked with Niles Main Street about marching in the parade. Barbara King filed the paperwork. She then found the twinkling Santa hats for us to wear, and the strings of tiny lights that we wrapped around our grabbers. Paula Hague brought us bright red bags to fit into our trash-bag holders and suddenly we were perfectly dressed for the Niles Festival of Lights.
The cheering crowd gave us a moment. We marching Villagers looked around and started waving to the crowd. Big grins spread across our faces. We stood a little straighter and raised our waving hands a little higher. All so proud of the Grabberwalkies! Thankful that the remarkable three-some, Barb Howard, Pat Finch and Dee Miner, had led the way for GNV to get more involved in the community by allowing Villagers to join their weekly Niles beautification project.
It was fun and it was bright: a true reflection of GNV’s village spirit.
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