The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

[YULAN] – It was a great day for a parade, but there wasn’t one.

The Annual Von Steuben Day Parade has been a popular fixture at the crossroads in Yulan for years, but the local fire department decided to pull the plug this year, citing lack of attendance.

Festival goers share good times.

A youngster gets a chance to climb all over a Yulan fire apparatus…it’s for sale next year.

Reports as to when word of the cancellation went out vary from six months ago to last month, but a lot of folks arrived at the crossroads still displaying a large sign “Von Steuben Festival Parade and Germanfest September 19, Yulan, New York” only to discover there was no parade, and the festivities would be held on the nearby fireman’s field. General Von Steuben would have been upset to find yet another local tradition bit the dust (at least for now), and Heide Marie Sheppard’s, Maximilian, wasn’t a happy pooch.

A patriotic display by the Committee for the Families of Iraqi War.

Von Steuben Day is named after the Prussian army officer who served as inspector general and Major General of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. ‘ Credited with teaching the Continental Army the basics of military drill and discipline, he helped guide a new nation to independence.

Founded in 1957, the Annual Steuben Parade on Fifth Avenue and an Octoberfest-fest gathering in Central Park have given New Yorkers a chance to celebrate their German-Americanheritage. A bit closer to home, the Yulan parade was an opportunity for volunteer fire companies to show their colors and give folks a chance to enjoy the colorful change of seasons.

Heide Marie Sheppard of Cochecton showed up with her German short hair [Maximillian] all decked out in German colors, but he had to wait in their car as no pets are allowed on the field. “He’s very upset,” said Sheppard. “I brought my dog to the parade, only to find out there is no parade. If I had known it was cancelled, we would have gone to the parade in Manhattan.”

Meanwhile, across the road from the sign advertising the parade, a faded shamrock is all that’s left from Yulan’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which also got the firefighter’s axe this year.

A local biker shows off his love of whiskey and suds.

“The last couple of years, there were more people in the parade than actually watching it, and it took some of our people away from down here (the festival), and it spread us out too thin,” said Tim Schadt, chief of the local volunteer fire department. “So we just did away with the parade…I did hear there were a lot of disappointed people.”

Parade or no parade, hundreds of folks showed up for the festival, enjoying never ending pitchers of beer, German food, the music of “Musikverein” and German dancing.

German dancers perform for the crowd.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from The Von Steuben Festival visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.