Click to enlarge CHRIS JENNINGS / HERALD DEMOCRAT Above, Cara Graham pedals her tricycle near the front of the Van Alstyne patriotic bicycle parade Saturday morning. Below, Kimball Daniels rides his bike in the parade.

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Click to enlarge MARY JANE FARMER / HERALD DEMOCRAT Caleb Braddock, Van Alstyne long-time resident and chiropractor, demonstrated the rope skills he developed while growing up in the county.

BY MARY JANE FARMER

HERALD DEMOCRAT

VAN ALSTYNE -- The voices of vendors hawking their wares rang strong across the downtown Van Alstyne square Saturday as crowds milled the area, migrating from music stages to food booths and restaurants, in and out of retail stores, and greeting each other with a camaraderie unique to small town, Texas.

It was all part of the city's July 4th celebration and began at 9 a.m. with the American Legion Post 376 joining Mayor Ruth Ann Collins and spectators in the American Pledge of Allegiance, then ceremoniously raising the flag over the Grayson County Government Center.

"Kettle Korn, get your kettle corn here," a vendor called out, drawing "corn" into two syllables.

There were nearly two dozen vendors who signed up, but a few were no-shows, and that placed a little extra space between some of the booths.

"Fresh butternut squash," came a voice from the center of Dorothy Fielder Park, filled up with about a dozen vendors and topped by a children's face-painting station underneath the gazebo.

Music rang out on the south end of the town square, and children on bikes and trikes decorated in red, white, and blue paraded through the streets.

"Want a fan?" asked Texas Star Bank employees to everyone who passed before them. The cowboy-hat shaped fans were a welcome relief against the day's rising temperatures, and were symbols of times and celebrations through the ages. Very few people passed up taking the free fans.

The antique car show was, as always, a crowd favorite. Some offered free watermelon and chilled bottled water. Everyone had a chance to visit the downtown merchants and get a good idea of just what products and services they offer.

The Whistle Stop Cafe, which just opened on Northwest Main Street this week, kept its doors shut until 11 a.m., so that it wouldn't interfere with the fund-raising breakfast held by the Van Alstyne Friends of the Library, a monthly regular at the city's community center.

By 1-ish in the afternoon, vendors began putting up their shade canopies and the crowds thinned. But the day's activities weren't over, by a long shot.

About 6 p.m., crowds gathered around Grayson County College-South Campus for the yearly fireworks show, put on by the city's fire and police departments. New this year before the fireworks were the live music of Van Alstyne's own Springtown band and the fire department's newly-created auxiliary's fundraising sales of candy, snowcones, and soft drinks.

Over lunch at the Whistle Stop, Van Alstyne resident Sharon Evans commented that the day brought back memories of the Van Alstyne of decades ago, when people drove to town on Saturday night, parked and walked around the square visiting with friends. Nancy Webb agreed, adding that her younger days had been spent in Whitewright, but were much the same. They and another longtimer, Joyce Kislack, reminisced about Nunneley's grocery store on the square and all it had offered, Trotter's ice cream parlor, and Hartley's drive in, where a dixie dog was the top menu item.

And returning that sense of hometown fellowship was much of what Van Alstyne Chamber of Commerce, Keep Van Alstyne Beautiful, and other organizing entities were counting on, and seemed to accomplish.