75 Years Later, Parade 1st Date Holds Special Place In Woman's Heart

When Charlie and Norma Rush went to the Toms River Halloween parade on their first date, they were like any other teenagers.

“I don’t remember much about the parade because I was too busy looking at him,” Norma Rush said Saturday night. “It was definitely a lot smaller then.”

Back then, she said, the parade was a social event for the teenagers, much as it is now. And while that aspect hasn’t changed much, other aspects of the parade have changed dramatically, she said.

Not surprising when you consider the Rushes’ first date was 75 years ago.

Norma Rush and her daughter, Diane Dam, were taking in the parade for the first time in 25 years Saturday night, and they couldn’t have picked a better night, with relatively mild temperatures and clear skies making it a comfortable night to be out.

This was the 77th marching of the parade, hosted by Toms River Fire Company 1, and it has grown dramatically since 1940, when Norma and Charlie watched -- Norma, by the way, marched in the parade the following year: “I was a cheerleader then,” she said at Toms River High School, then the only high school for students in Toms River and surrounding towns.

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The parade back then didn’t take very long, Norma Rush said. Saturday night, she and Diane -- and thousands of spectators -- were treated to more than two hours of floats and marching bands, Scout groups and even costumed pets. Parade chairman Carl Weingroff said there were 1,153 registrants in addition to the high school and intermediate school bands, Scout groups and other special participants. It has earned the title of second-largest Halloween parade in the world.

The turnout and the night were excellent, he said, with the parade length more than doubling -- from 45 minutes last year to more than two hours this year. The parade had seen a downturn in participation and spectators the last two years, after it was moved to the last Saturday in October in the wake of being canceled in 2012 due to Superstorm Sandy.

Not having it on Oct. 31 after decades of tradition confused people, he has said, so the decision was made this year to go back to the parade’s traditions for good. It helped that Oct. 31 was on a Saturday this year, Weingroff said, acknowledging that the Saturday date helped turnout. Next year, the parade will be on a Monday, because 2016 is a leap year.

“There weren’t any complaints, any first aid calls, any police calls,” he said. The lone problem was two floats tossing items to the crowd -- a practice strictly forbidden under the rules for safety reasons, Weingroff said.

“It was a great night,” he said.

For Norma Rush it was a fun night, too, reliving the memories of that short first date. She graduated from Toms River High School in 1942 and married Charlie in 1943. They were married 67 years, until his death in 2000.

The couple raised seven children, five of whom are still in the Toms River area, and moved to Florida in the 1990s. But Norma Rush recently moved back, to Leisure Village West, so she could be nearer to her family and her roots, which run deep into Ocean County’s history. Her father, Will Farrow, brought the Bayville dinosaur to Route 9. Her grandfather, John Allen, was a fisherman whose name remains in use on a cove in Barnegat Bay. And her husband built the high school at St. Joseph Parish. Back then it was St. Joseph; today, it’s Donovan Catholic.

“I knew Father Donovan,” said Diane, who graduated from St. Joseph’s in 1969. “I knew him as a regular person because he came to dinner at our house often.”

Diane Dam had not been to the parade in years either, she said, but when Norma called and said she wanted to go, Diane was all for it. But even she was surprised by the changes.

“I didn’t know about the chairs,” she said, of the tradition of putting lawn chairs along the parade route on the day before the parade to secure a spot.

“I tied them down with bungee cords and tent stakes because I was afraid someone would take them,” Diane said with a laugh.

In the end, mother and daughter enjoyed the experience immensely, evidenced by the smiles on their faces.

Would Norma, who said she’s almost 90, march again?

“If I could do it I think I would,” she said.

Editor’s Note: Parade winners will be posted later Sunday.