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Opponents will ride side by side in carriages and bury the hatchet Thursday, Nov. 6, as Sussex County’s semi-annual Return Day tradition continues.
While the parade is set to step off at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, events begin Wednesday, Nov. 5, with a visit by the Budweiser Clydesdale Team and Wagon, 2-4 p.m., and Wednesday night entertainment starting at 6 p.m. in the Sussex County Courthouse parking lot. The full schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, Nov. 5
2-4 p.m.
Budweiser Clydesdales team wagon viewing and picture day at the Marvel Carriage Museum, 510 S. Bedford St.
Wednesday night entertainment at the Sussex County Courthouse parking lot, near the ox roast
6-7 p.m., Whaley’s Corner (bluegrass)
7-8 p.m., Bird Dog and The Road Kings
8-9 p.m., The Funsters
9-10 p.m., Bird Dog and The Road Kings
10-11 p.m., The Funsters
Thursday, Nov. 6
9 a.m. to dusk
Arts, crafts, informational booths, antiques and collectibles vendors, 120-122 E. Market St. Food vendors, E. Laurel St. from N. Bedford to Layton Ave.
10 a.m., reception for candidates and honored guests, Delaware Technical & Community College, William A. Carter Partnership Center
10-11:30 a.m. Various performers, Sussex County Youth Entertainment Stage, 129 E. Market St.
11 a.m., Entertainment at Wilmington Trust stage in front of Sussex County Courthouse on the Circle
11:30 a.m., Hatchet toss by Sussex County mayors, Old Court House, S. Bedford St.
11:30 a.m. to 1:25 p.m. Return Day Idol Competition, Sussex County Youth Entertainment Stage
12:45 p.m., Miss Delaware 2008, Galen Giaccone, performs at the Wilmington Trust Stage in front of Sussex County Court House on the Circle
1:30 p.m., Return Day Parade steps off. Announcer is Wade Perdue. Starts at Georgetown Middle School, W. Market St., and continues to south side of the Circle and turns on E. Market St. to S. King St. Turns on E. Pine St., back to the school
3:45 p.m., Ceremonies on the Circle, Wilmington Trust Stage in front of Sussex County Courthouse on the Circle. Master of ceremonies is WBOC’s Steve Hammond
4 p.m., Reading of the returns by Town Crier W. Layton Johnson, Sussex County Courthouse balcony
4:30 p.m., Ox roast, free open-pit barbecue sandwiches in the courthouse parking lot
Former governor Peterson is grand marshal
Russell W. Peterson is grand marshal of the 2008 Sussex County Return Day parade.
Peterson served as the 71st governor of the state of Delaware from 1969-73. He succeeded Gov. Charles L. Terry Jr.
A dedicated environmentalist, he was the guiding force behind the Coastal Zone Act of 1972. His act protected Delaware’s Inland Bays and waterways by banning heavy industry from a two-mile-wide strip of Delaware’s 115-mile coastline.
Peterson, now 92, is the son of a Swedish immigrant. He has spent a lifetime in public service and policy leadership in criminal justice, governmental reform, environmental vision, scientific research, educational reform, ornithology, international affairs and business leadership. His passion for his adopted state of Delaware has spanned more than 60 years, including serving as governor, chairman of the Delaware River Basin Commission, co-chairman of the Governor’s Task Force on the Future of the Brandywine and Christina Rivers, a member of the Riverfront Development Corporation Board and founding chair of Stand Up for What’s Right and Just. In 2000, a 200-acre urban tidal marsh in the Brandywine-Christina watershed was named the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge in his honor.
On a national scale, Peterson served as chairman of the National Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, and led the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act as chairman of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality during the Ford administration.
He served as director of the Congressional Office of Technology and with media mogul Ted Turner, founded the Better World Society. Celebrities Jacques Cousteau, Barbra Streisand, Al Gore and Muppets creator Jim Henson were involved in the award-winning initiative to educate television audiences to the threats to the global environment. He served as president of two other international environmental organizations and as goodwill ambassador to the United Nations.
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