Open up your VHS vault.. I know you have ABA parade tapes out there somewhere

We’re going to do one more Ashland Boys Association post.. the ABA parade..

You’ve probably seen plenty of laments about the end of the ABA parade. Truth is, it ended many years ago. It never restarted. And at this point, it’s probably gone for good.

That means newcomers to town will never know the spirit the parade once carried. And this is what happens in small towns all across America: the old traditions fade away, and new ones rarely take their place. What’s left behind is half squalor, half dormant memory and buildings sitting vacant, owned by out-of-town landlords, with substance abuse and addiction only making things worse amongst so many in towns that dread sundown..

But let’s try to stay positive. Nostalgia can trick us into pretending the old days were perfect. And they weren’t. Back during the ABA parade, there were problems too. But there was also spirit. That part is what seems to be gone.

Here’s what isn’t gone: VHS tapes.

Somewhere in basements all over Ashland, there are recordings of those parades. We all know it. They’re just hidden away because the parade existed before social media. Besides a few clips of mummers or school bands floating around, there’s little video proof of what once was.

But in the ’80s and ’90s? People had those big shoulder-mounted camcorders at every parade. I remember seeing them as a kid and teenager. So where are those tapes now?

My fear: they’re rotting in basements, mold eating into the reels, never to be seen again. My hope: they’re still salvageable. I have tapes 45 years old that still play just fine in the little VCR that I still own. So you have to too!

Call me crazy, but I think we should start a campaign to collect footage of the ABA parade. Let’s document it. Let’s make a film out of what once was. Maybe someone is already doing this, but if not, I’ll volunteer myself.

If you have a tape or a recording of the ABA parade, send it my way. Let me know who’s in it, where it was filmed, and what year. I promise: no invasions of privacy meant to happen here, just history being documented. If it happened on the streets, it’s part of the public record anyway.

We can’t recreate the smells of home cooked meals from every house on Walnut and Centre Streets, or the feeling of a fall evening in Eastern Pennsylvania. But with these basement-dwelling videos, we can capture the sights, the sounds, and the music and tell the story of a spirit that once filled this town.

Before the memory fades completely into darkness, like the tail end of a parade disappearing down the street, let’s bring it back into the light.

Before it really is too late.