DEMOCRATS AT HARVARD--The One With the Cow
The Democratic Party of McHenry County assembled by Harvard High School before the Milk Days Parade. (Photo by Tom Cynor)
Hillary Clinton was giving her long awaited concession and endorsement of Barack Obama as McHenry County Democrats gathered for the Harvard Milk Days Parade Saturday morning. It was hot and muggy. The sun burned through thin clouds as we assembled and waited behind the high school. We were near the end of the parade so we had plenty of time to soak up the sun-burn. We finally started moving after 2 pm, a full hour after the head of the parade started off.
About thirty adults plus assorted children turned out. Our unit included a float, a Tom Cynor for State’s Attorney trailer and several candidates. Most of us were elegantly turned out in our bright blue “Proud to be a McHenry County Democrat” tee shirts.
For those who are unfamiliar with the place, Harvard lies in the northwest of McHenry County just a bit south of the Wisconsin border. It once was the center of the dairy industry and the town was known as the “Milk Capital of the World.” That status is celebrated by Milk Days, Illinois oldest continuous municipal festival dating to 1941, and by the beloved fiberglass statue of Harmilda the cow located at the intersection of U.S. Route 14, Illinois Route 173, and the city’s main drag, Ayers Street (AKA “The Milky Way.”
Although the Dean Foods dairy plant is still a major local employer, most of the dairy farms are gone now and the city long ago lost its dairy crown.
But Harvard is the most resolutely working class of all McHenry County municipalities. Far from encroaching suburbia that has swallowed most of the southeast portion of the county and is now marching north from Huntley in the southwest housing prices are relatively modest. Local industry has provided jobs. A brief brush with prosperity evaporated when Motorola shut down a mammoth new cell phone production factory a few years ago. 5000 jobs disappeared with the stroke of a pen. And the building sits empty on the edge of town on the edge of town defying all attempts to attract new tenants and new jobs.
Nearly 40% of the population is now Hispanic. There is a lot of tension between the new immigrants and the older Anglo community. But Ayer Street and the rest of downtown would now be a virtual ghost town if it were not for the many Latino business that have opened there in recent years. In fact the parade crowd along the Milky Way was largely Hispanic, while Anglos tended to gather on the tree shaded lawns along the residential streets between the High School and downtown.
Democrats, however, go a warm welcome from both communities. Not a block was passed without out breaks of actual cheering, whooping and fist pumping. A lot of folks called out for Obama. While we have always had support in Harvard, not too many years ago scattered individuals sheepishly acknowledged us hoping that their Republican neighbors would not notice. Boos would sometimes outnumber cheers. This year there was one boo.
Coroner Candidate David Bachmann watched the parade from the sidelines with his family. He wrote in an e-mail to other party members, “I am soooooooooo proud of our people that were in Harvard today…The Republicans should be embarrassed. All they had was an old beat up car, not resorted at all, with a few campaign signs made of old cardboard stuck to the car with “duck tape”…Not a single candidate or party representation…”
Any way here are some photos from the day.
State’s Attorney Candidate Tom Cynor with his main man, Quinn. (This and all further photos by Murfin)
Auditor Candidate Kerry Julian and family.
The candidate contingent-Robert Ludwig, County Board Dist. 6; James McTague, County Board Dist. 1; Cynor; Robert Abboud, 16th Congressional District; Julian; and Jeff Thirtyacer, County Board Dist. 4.
Thirtyacer and Bill Nowaskey prepare to step off at the head of the contingent.