Upbeat in a Downpour : Rains Dampen Crowd at Black History Parade, but Not Spirits

They came equipped with umbrellas, ponchos and wide-brimmed hats, determined to make this year’s Black History Parade a success.

“I’ve never missed one,” said Shirley McLemore of Fullerton, who huddled under a bright-striped umbrella with two nephews as the rain poured down and the parade passed by. Never did it occur to her that the event might be canceled. “I had no doubts I was going to be sitting here.”

That persevering spirit permeated the crowd that turned out Saturday for the Orange County Black History Parade and Cultural Fair, a cornerstone of Black History Month in the county. They cheered the drill teams and school bands, Girl Scout troops and politicians at an event that celebrated both the black community and the spirit of diversity.

“It’s real encouraging when it’s raining and people are still coming out,” said Wayne Snyder, a leader with Santa Ana-based Mission With Benevolence (MWB) Foundation, which spearheaded the event. He estimated that the weather kept attendance down to 2,000 or 3,000, below the 10,000 organizers had hoped for.

But for a parade that survived near extinction in the early 1990s, wet weather is a mere inconvenience.

The 15-year-old parade was canceled three years running because of funding problems. But three county residents launched the nonprofit MWB Foundation, which raised money and brought back the parade in 1994, and momentum has been building ever since.

“We felt there was such a need to continue to bring something positive back into Orange County,” said Ernesta H. Wright of Anaheim, owner of Elite Beauty Supplies in Santa Ana and one of the group’s founders.

Some who came Saturday said the festivities help pull together the sometimes fragmented black community in Orange County, where the 42,681 African Americans counted in the 1990 census makes up only 1.8% of the county population.

“It was wonderful, the camaraderie,” said Jessica McKinney Morales, president of the Rancho Santiago College Black Student Union, which had 10 members march in the parade. “These kind of events just sort of say, ‘I’m a respectable person, I’ve got a 4.0 [GPA], I’m going to be a CPA. . . . It gives us some energy to keep on going.”

McKinney Morales said she was heartened by the mix of races that attended the fair, taking it as a sign that Black History Month can appeal to everyone.

“The more I look around, the more I see different colors,” she said.

The day began with a one-hour parade through the streets of Santa Ana in which dozens of groups participated through puddle-strewn streets on a cold day.

The young members of the Johnson Chapel drill team briskly performed their routines amid the downpour. Afterward, a few damp members gathered in the doorway of an office building, shivering as they awaited the judging results.

“My whole body feels numb right now,” complained one girl in a sodden sweatshirt and wet hair.

In the end, the Ladies First and II Hype Posse drill team of Pacoima garnered the “crowd pleaser’s award,” and the Inglewood High School band won honors for best representing the theme of “Unity Through Diversity.” Allen E. Doby, Santa Ana’s director of parks and recreation, was presented with the MWB Foundation leadership award.

The crowd applauded enthusiastically as the 50 girls and boys of the Pacoima team performed two encores in their soaked black-and-white uniforms.

“It was fun. They enjoyed it. Now I hope they don’t get sick,” said director Vickie Johnson.

Fair-goers perused a maze of booths offering food, ethnic clothing, church information and even banking services.

One booth featured the new edition of the Black Orange, the struggling magazine launched three years ago that lists cultural events and includes articles about African American issues. The orange-bordered cover featured a black man in Uncle Sam-style attire, pointing beneath the slogan, “The Black Orange needs you.”

Indeed, the Black Orange--the only magazine focusing on local African-Americans--is suffering some of the same problems the Black History Parade did several years ago. Suffering from financial woes, it had not printed a new issue since July. Now supporters hope that if the number of subscribers can be boosted substantially, the magazine will survive.

“We spent last night pulling together,” explained co-publisher Joyce Jordan, who wore a bright orange sweatshirt and sounded an upbeat note. So far, she said, she had sold about 10 new subscriptions to fair-goers.

A woman stopped by the booth to inquire if this would be the last issue.

“This is not the last issue,” Jordan answered. “This is the first issue of the new year.”

* RAINY DAYS

Forecasters say we won’t see sunny skies again until Tuesday. B4