Campaign trail begins in Chapin

Labor Day parade kicks off election season

By CAROLYN CLICK

cclick@thestate.com

BRETT FLASHNICK/SPECIAL TO THE STATE

A Norfolk Southern train briefly blocked Chapin’s Labor Day parade route Monday. Thousands turned out for the parade.

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First lady Jenny Sanford tossed candy. State Treasurer Grady Patterson handed out fans with his face on the front. And Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer peeled off stickers for eager kids as Chapin’s annual Labor Day parade inaugurated the election season.

Candidate-spotting — and candy-throwing — offered the best sort of fun along the parade route through this Lexington County community, as thousands gathered to cheer on candidates, civic groups and schools.

“This is awesome,” said Marcelle Brown, who brought her son, Austin, 11. “This is the best one yet, with the politicians and all the involvement. It’s great.”

Brown votes Republican and says Chapin, like the whole of Lexington County, traditionally leans “toward the big ‘R’” in elections.

But she was eager to scoop up information on candidates running for the Lexington-Richland 5 school board, to determine who was pairing up with whom.

Beth White, who watched the parade with her husband, Bruce, and three children, was also interested in the passing floats and cars carrying school board candidates.

A schoolteacher with the South Carolina Reading Initiative, she works in the Lexington 2 school district.

“But I vote for the Lexington 5 board,” she said.

School board elections are nonpartisan, but she likes to see which candidates align with others based on their common outlooks and allegiances.

Overcast skies took the edge off the heat of the day, but it still was plenty humid for parade-watchers and those walking the milelong parade route.

Some escaped to the cool interior of Chapin High School to enjoy a barbecue lunch prepared by the Chapin Ruritan Club and shop at the arts and crafts festival.

Jessica Volin, an eighth-grader at Chapin Middle School, relaxed after walking the parade with Flight, the flag group that accompanies the Chapin High School Band.

She listened as her aunt, Betty Koon of West Columbia, recalled growing up on Lake Murray and riding into Chapin in the 1940s in the back of a mule-drawn cart to shop at a small general store.

Chapin and the Lake Murray community have exploded in size since then, but a small-town feel prevails. Chapin can claim 628 residents, according to recent census figures.

That small-town hospitality was on display as friendliness generally trumped political allegiances among those welcoming candidates on parade.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford strolled along looking relaxed in khakis and a plaid shirt, assisted by his wife, sons and a cadre of T-shirted campaign workers. Democratic opponent Tommy Moore and his entourage of campaign workers followed shortly and also were received enthusiastically.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham rode in the back of a convertible and seemed to know everyone along the streets, as did Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.

In fact, everybody seemed to know everybody. The crowd waited patiently as a Norfolk Southern train rumbled through town and temporarily halted the parade. And when a firetruck broke down, many joined to push the vehicle off to the side so the parade could proceed.

As those aboard floats yelled out to friends along the route, candy of all kinds flew like confetti.

Beth White’s two oldest children, Lucas, 9, and Aaron, 7, scooped up the sweet treats, along with golf tees, bags of goldfish-shaped snack crackers (distributed by a local church with the motto: “Have You Been Caught?”) and a small football. Eventually, their dad’s pockets could hold no more.

“This is better than Halloween,” Bruce White chuckled. “You don’t have to walk.”

Reach Click at (803) 771-8386.