LIVING IN MANVILLE
By:Mary Ellen Zangara
Residents of Manville are sure showing their support for the men and women that are overseas fighting for our freedom.
Over the past few days, the town has become a sea of yellow ribbons. As you travel down Main Street, all you see are yellow ribbons tied to just about everything along the road. Trees, park benches, lampposts, poles etc. all have a yellow ribbons tied to it.
Manville High School students are responsible for this and they even tied ribbons to all the trees over at MHS.
Just like the song from Tony Orlando and Dawn, "Just tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" many have down just that.
Sacred Heart Church was the first to put out the big yellow bows on their outside fence along Main Street. They also tied the yellow ribbons on all the trees by the statues in front of the church.
Many businesses have also put large yellow bows and ribbons outside of their establishments. At the Hair House International, two large yellow bows with red, white and blue decorations hang on the front pillars. In front of the Flower Gallery, there is a tree that has been decorated with small red, white and blue bows and now it has small yellow ribbons.
Yellow ribbon is getting hard to find as many are purchasing it for this cause, but residents all over town have put them in their yards and on their houses.
On Sunday, the residents and many out of town residents gathered at the municipal building for a ceremony to show support of the troops in the Middle East. The ceremony which was supposed to start at 1 p.m. began in the municipal courtroom due to the weather outside.
There was such a great response that there were so many people inside with not even standing room that Mayor Angelo Corradino announced that they were moving the ceremony outside to accommodate everyone.
Within a few minutes, the crowd gathered outside under umbrellas for the ceremony. A crowd of about 200 braved the drizzling rain to participate.
Many said that they didn’t mind the rain they said if the troops could go through what they were going through, we could stand a little rain.
People under their umbrellas carried American flags and signs to show their support. Victoria, Tyler and Jacob Bobal joined their grandparents JoAnne and John Krasnansky holding their handmade signs "Thank you for keeping me safe" and "United we stand" were their two signs that they held proudly for all to see.
Families came out with their children, senior citizens, war veterans and even small children in strollers with balloons attached to their strollers were there in support.
A few Girl Scouts from town gathered under an umbrella up front holding their flags. Many had dressed in their red, white or blue, some wearing yellow ribbons, some with flag designed umbrellas.
The mayor and members of the Borough Council, the police, First Aid and Rescue Squad and their Auxiliary, and the VFW Post 2290 along with many others participated in the ceremony.
The Somerset County Police Bagpipers played some of the patriotic tunes and the crowd sang along.
Mayor Angelo Corradino noted that "the American flags have been put up on the flag posts and they would not be taken down under it was over."
He commented that none of the decorative ones would go up. As the crowd listened to the guest speakers who came from neighboring towns, you could hear the horns beeping for support going down Main Street.
Mayor Corradino also mentioned that we have two Manville residents who have been called to active duty and who are in the Middle East. Michael George and Melissa Kattner are both there with the troops.
At the end of the ceremony, a few supporters toting their signs made their way into the center of Main Street asking passers-by to honk their honk for support of our troops. They stood on the yellow middle line for a few minutes getting the travelers to honk.
Even though the weather wasn’t perfect, it was a great day for residents who came out to show their support.
As the signs around town and in front of the Municipal Building say "Manville Supports our Troops."
Mary Ellen Zangara is a lifelong resident of Manville.