I Love a Parade...

And So Did Mack Riddle

1959 Kingsport Fourth of July Parade

Mack Riddle loved the Kingsport Fourth of July Parade so much that eventually they named it for him. The parade was cancelled this year for the first time since Riddle restarted it in 1954. 
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Mack Riddle Fourth of July parade in 2004, I wrote a column about Mack and his parade: 

John B. Dennis didn’t build the by-pass that bears his name.

J. Fred Johnson didn’t lay the bricks for the stadium named after him.

Mack Riddle built the Fourth of July parade.

There was a Fourth of July parade before Mack Riddle. And there have been four parades since his death in 1999.

But it was Mack Riddle who took a sporadic celebration and turned it into an annual event. An annual event that now bears his name.

The 50^th consecutive Mack Riddle American Legion Fourth of July Parade kicks off Monday on East Center in front of the Renaissance Center and marches to Fort Henry Drive then all the way to Eastman Road. It’s now a two-hour televised celebration that is said to be the largest parade in the state. And that’s because of Mack Riddle.

(Full disclosure: I was in the Parade back in 1967. I played Andrew Johnson, an easy impersonation since no one has any idea how Andrew Johnson acted.)

The City Archives has pictures from a 1917 Fourth of July parade in Kingsport: a mule drawn wagon promoting The Big Store. And there was a big parade in 1926 that included an address by World War I’s most decorated solider, Sergeant Alvin York. But the Fourth of July parade was a sometime thing - some years there’d be one, some years there wouldn’t - until Mack Riddle

Mack Riddle took the old Harold Arlen song “I Love a Parade.” to heart.

Payne Marshall, longtime parade coordinator, recalls, “In 1954 Mack approached the Commander of the American Legion and asked why the American Legion didn’t have an annual parade. He was informed that the American Legion did not have funds to do this or anyone that was willing to take charge of the parade. You know how this works - since he asked the question, he was asked if he wanted the job.”

He accepted without hesitation and on Independence Day 1955 Mack began what would become 45 years of service as the man behind the parade.

Why was Mack so devoted to the parade? His son Tommy says, “A lot of it had to do with Dad’s timing in his life. He was raised in the Depression. He said they’d have popcorn for breakfast, water for lunch and swell up for supper. World War II came along and they knew, ‘We win this or we’re conquered.’ He served at Fort Story. Then he went to Germany and France and saw all that happened. He was in artillery. He saw a lot. He realized the sacrifice Americans had made. And it made him proud to be an American.”

Mack Riddle and Independence Day were a perfect match. Combine his patriotic zeal with his flair for show business - Mack and Frank Taylor were famous for their vaudeville style Frank and Mack Show - and you have the formula. Start with the flag, add marching bands, twirlers, clowns, floats and a cheering crowd.

It was a hit from the start. “Kingsport reacted to the parade,” says Tommy. “You’d see every kind of group, the upper crust, the working class.”

Tommy attributes much of the success of the parade to the folks his dad surrounded himself with. “Dad was a good delegater. Gordon Blessing, Kelly Goad, Payne Marshall, they were always by his side ready to help.”

 But they didn’t name the parade after him because he was good at delegating.

“With Dad it wasn’t a hobby, it was a way of life,” says Tommy. “He started on the next parade before the other one ended. He would be taking a nap after the parade and taking calls from people who wanted in the next year. He said the best asset Kingsport had was its people.”

If you miss Kingsport's Mack Riddle Fourth of July Parade, YouTube can help. 

This first link is a home movie of the 1968 parade taken by my father's Army buddy Worley Lane. 

It includes a few attempts at art but it's still a nice time capsule of that era parade. Click here.

The second link is from 2017. Click here.