Townie Pride parade will forever be remembered as the “Bead It” day
EAST PROVIDENCE - It was the afternoon before the big night last Thursday when Patti Streit watched as months of effort was unfurled on the Pierce Field track. Stored in a medium size cardboard box, a collection of red and white beads held together by fishing line was placed down on white lane markers as a golf cart toted the chain and city surveyors stood off in the distance.
At the time, the stadium was empty aside from a handful of witnesses and a few Pierce Field workers. The football and soccer fields were also bare except for a few recently sprayed yard markers. There was no music, there were no cheers, but the few people on hand were quite pleased with what the surveyors had to say.
A little more than 24 hours later, the scene on and around Pierce Field was quite different. On the grass, a few hundred East Providence school students, their parents, teachers and other personnel lined the football field while the bleachers were filled with dozens of other onlookers.
Playing on the stadium PA WAS Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
That’s when assistant superintendent Ed Daft made the announcement – the East Providence Education Foundation (EPEF) had officially broken the Guinness world record for the longest chain of beads ever assembled.
The chain came in at 1,349 feet. Not only did this length become the new world record, it nearly quadrupled the 355-foot mark previously set in the United Kingdom. Ms. Streit, an EPEF member and one of the “Bead It” drive leaders, said one goal of the drive was to make sure the new record stands for awhile.
“We were determined it would go as far as it did,” Ms. Streit said.
This celebration, held in coordination with the fifth annual Townie Pride Parade, was the culmination of a project that started in July. In a city that has recently received media attention for legal battles with labor unions and fiscal dilemmas, Ms. Streit (an EPEF member) said the goal of the “Bead It” drive was to do something positive in a community that as of late has been plagued by negativity.
The EPEF, which was established in 2007, is a community non-profit group that conducts various fundraising activities (like an annual rubber duck race) aimed at issuing grants to E.P.’s 13 different schools.
Ms. Streit said an exact figure on the drive isn’t known yet, but it should net at least $5,000.
Something to be proud of
Outside of the “Bead It” celebration, the Townie Pride Parade brought out a couple hundred enthusiastic students and parents along with other family and faculty members. While some children chose to wear their school colors, like the kids from Silver Spring who donned purple wigs while carrying purple pom-poms, other took a more seasonal approach, like the Agnes B. Hennessey students who wore their Halloween costumes in the parade.
Some of the students were making their first walk in the parade, but others have become veteran marchers. Like Elizabeth Meade, a 14-year-old freshman at the high school who has marched in all five events.
“It’s one night where you get to come out and show pride for where you live,” she said.
As for the chain of beads itself, there is currently a plan to display it at City Hall once the Guinness Book of World Records officially confirms the new record. Along with the chain, a log featuring the names of students who helped out putting the chain together (including selling and stringing the beads) will also be put on display.
This is TOWNIE PRIDE? ......................... stringing beads?
If the people of East Providence don't back the iniatives that are presently taking place in our School Department, this is all the average student from East Providence will be qualified to do ........ STRING BEADS !
As long as you have incompetents and political lackeys such as Carcieri, Cirillo, Barnham, Kinder, etc. running the show, all you're going to get is school department administrators who are nothing but political hacks who only care about lining their pockets and ripping off the taxpayers.
1) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS - POLICE - FIREMEN)
2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?
3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS
4) IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT AND WANT IN. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.
5) IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE !
Any truth to the rumor that Attorney Paul Doughty helped string all these beads to break the record?
1) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS - POLICE - FIREMEN)
2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM?
3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE TAXPAYERS
Hey "improveEP"-how much longer are you going to keep on cutting and pasting that same nonsense? Don't you think it's time for some new material? Get some creativity please-you're repetition is getting old fast.
IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THEY SUPPORT AND WANT IN. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.
Here's the intelligence level of "improveEP"-cut and paste, cut and paste, cut and paste. Can't you give us something with a little more substance "improveEP"?
MUNICIPAL UNIONS = "PIGS AT THE PUBLIC TROUGH"
Very entertaining "improveEP"-is this what those two blowhards Carcieri and Larisa pay you to do all day? And for minimum wage? You know what they say "improveEP"-you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
State Rep. Doug Gablinske is quoted as asking union officials representing more than 9,000 teachers: “Do you not think that the pigs at the public trough have gone too far?”
THAT QUOTE IS FROM A DEMOCRAT, WHO WOULD KNOW BETTER?
IF YOU WANT HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES (HACKS) THEY SUPPORT AND WANT ELECTED. YOU WILL THEN GET HIGHER TAXES.
Did you know?
Our overall taxes rank fourth in the country and are the highest in New England. Our school costs are the largest on a per capita basis in New England, yet our educational achievements are in the bottom 25% of U.S. performance. School budgets comprise about 60% to more than 70% of all municipal budgets in Rhode Island. Rhode Island teacher salaries are the 9th highest in the United States.
FOR HIGHER TAXES, VOTE UNION !
"I have no problem whatsoever paying a little more in taxes. It's a small price to pay for the quality of life we enjoy."
THIS RECENT QUOTE SHOWN ABOVE IS FROM A RABID UNION BLOGGER NAMED "union-teacher"
HE OBVIOUSLY THINKS ITS OKAY TO PAY MORE TAXES IN THE MOST "TAXED OUT" STATE IN THE COUNTRY.
THEREFORE PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:
1) UNIONS FIGHT AND SQUEEZE FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MEMBERS (TEACHERS UNION - POLICE UNION - FIREMENS UNION)
2) WHERE DOES THAT MONEY COME FROM WHICH GOES TO THESE GREEDY UNIONS?
3) IT COMES FROM THE ANNUAL TAXES PAID BY THE HARDWORKING TAXPAYERS
4) IF YOU WANT TO PAY HIGHER ANNUAL TAXES, THEN SUPPORT THE UNIONS AND THE POLITICAL CANDIDATES THAT THEY SUPPORT AND WANT ELECTED. YOU WILL THEN PAY HIGHER TAXES.
I GUARANTEE YOU THAT!
5) IT'S REALLY JUST THAT SIMPLE !
