It poured all day with only a teasing respite, here and there, until the brief dry spell was dispelled by another celestial burst of waterworks.

The coordinators of the Centennial Parade were looking ashen and grim. Months of preparation, with thousands of details checked and rechecked, would be dashed and, worst of all, no rain date.

Tom Hayden, our Centennial chairman, resorted to prayer while others on the committee kept an all night vigil as if by looking heavenward they could muster the temerity to stare down the storm. Expectations die a slow death and it is easy to hope greatly when you want something badly enough, as if there should be some inviolable compact between the best laid plans and the mercurial whims of nature.

By whatever magic the rains had finally ceased by 4 a.m. and the morning dawned pensive, sullen and fraught with presentiments of more precipitation. The sun, sequestered in an awning of clouds gradually escaped and, mirabile dictu, the gray skies, like schools of fish, parted into breadths of blue revealing, in all its wondrous glory, a prosaic morning that would soon blossom into a poetic noon.

It was now anchors away as three quarters a mile north of the reviewing stand on Floral Boulevard, myriads marchers came to in snappy formations on the tree-lined Lowell Avenue and its arterial streets. Soon the signal came and in a glittering display of color and ostentation strung out as far as the eye can see, we began to march. Like a great army on the move, we marched west on Lowell and then south on North Tyson and then west on Jericho Turnpike when two Nassau County helicopters, like doves overhead, soared above the winding cavalcade, pronouncing their benediction on the procession.

As we turned south on Plainfield Avenue, a sudden splash of excitement as the cheers grew ever louder as the crowds thickened on the sidewalks running parallel on either side. Others shouted hurrahs and huzzas from their stoops and doorways. What a sight it must have been when promenading out of a dissipating morning haze, eight massive, majestic, Clydesdale horses, courtesy of Anheuser Busch Brewery, led the grand parade hitched in gleaming harnesses to an exquisitely crafted red, white and gold beer wagon with giant white spoked wheels.

With their long, arched neck and carrying 2,000 magnificent pounds of sculptured horseflesh they pranced forward, their frying pan sized feathery hooves clopping ahead as they moved with an air of regal certitude. Our residents, and who could blame them, fell deliriously in love with the Clydesdales.

In their wake was the Nassau County Motorcycle and Mounted Police Unit, the Army Reserve Band, Honorary Grand Marshal Jeannette and Stanley Grodski and then a pageantry of marchers including the legendary Rough Rider Calvary of 1898 riding, of course, on horseback spectacularly suited in their blue uniforms and led by a monocled Theodore Roosevelt look-alike.

Then in wave upon endless wave came 23 marching bands, 11 fire departments and a nearly endless spectacle of community organizations, floats, waving flags, a canine brigade, antique cars, clowns, small motorbikes whip-lashing in hurried circular motions, pomp and circumstance, banners, ballads and bards all of whom fused with participants throughout the county until our provincial microcosm morphed, and then flowered into an effortless cosmopolitanism.

As the parade wound down and the theatrics concluded, people filled the Carlton Street parking lot where they were entertained with live music, jugglers, stilt walkers, pony rides, a petting zoo and a host of other fun-filled activities. Outside the perimeter of the parade, our restaurants, stores and boutiques were flooded with eager patrons; business was brisk and hardy as the mood was festive and euphoric.

I take leave of you now my dear reader in describing the felicities of the day; my pen is too poor an instrument to paint a picture on so broad a canvas. So I leave it to the writings of the local newspapers that covered the event, the thousands of photographs, and the miles of videotape taken by Four Village Studio that will, I'm certain, prove an ample archivist for posterity. So will the memories that were already being shared the next morning on Mother's Day, in bakeries and supermarkets, in churches and on the avenues and wherever relatives and friends gathered to celebrate the day and recount the tale.

In a larger sense, let us remember that a parade is the celebratory language of community achievement. When the famed Dr. Johnson said to Boswell that "The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England," I could not help but think there is another high road that leads right here to Floral Park. It certainly seemed so on this day, where we seemed, if only for two hours, at the very center of the earth. We are, after all, 100 years old for a reason and I think it is mostly because we are nurtured in an environment where the traditional values of family, faith, hard work, responsibility, civic duty and love of country are placed on a pedestal where they preserve not only our dreams, but also the American dream.

Finally, I've often said that behind every success is a lot of hard work and sweat. So kudos to Tom Hayden who not only labored mightily but kept up a friendly banter flavored with the witticisms and gentle provocations he is justly famous for in announcing the groups and dignitaries who marched. Bill Bedell was indispensable as the parade chairman as was Sandy Munz as fair chairperson. I want to thank Jim Green for his heroics with Four Village Studio in taping the event and Larry Davidson for interviewing some of the dignitaries present. Virginia Appel and Susan Walsh deserve special thanks for working so hard and making sure everything came together. Gay Taffel, Margaret MacDonald and Lucille Langone formed a great trio on the Hospitality Committee.

I do not want to neglect the CERT volunteers and the Recreation Staff for their assistance in setting up, Superintendent Ken Tymecki and all the supervisors and crews from the Department of Public Works for the planning, set-up and beautification of the village as well as Commissioner Mike Reid and the police department for traffic control and keeping order. Last, but not least, a tip of the cap to Shane Moynaugh, of the Tulip Bake Shop, for his donation of the 100th anniversary cake.