LEWISBURG — Though he’s usually the tallest person in Lewisburg’s annual Fourth of July parade, “Uncle Sam” was of normal height this year.
Art Bunce, who portrays Uncle Sam while striding down the street on stilts, was recovering from surgery this year and couldn’t walk on stilts. But he was there nonetheless, walking and handing out thousands of pieces of candy to children along the route.
Bunce, a retired federal prison guard, has become such a fixture in Lewisburg’s parade since he first donned his signature red, white and blue outfit in 1998 that he’s one of the first people the parade committee contacts each year.
“I look forward to doing the Lewisburg parade every year,” he said.
“It’s not a Fourth of July parade without Uncle Sam,” according to Graham Showalter, parade chairman.
Bunce receives many requests to portray Uncle Sam in parades, but Lewisburg’s is one he doesn’t want to miss.
He started out portraying a much different character, however. His first foray into parading on stilts was as the monster Frankenstein in 1996. He also wore a clown costume in several parades that year. He’s marched in parades in Danville, Northumberland, Sunbury and Watsontown in the monster and clown outfits.
His wife, Donna, custom sews his costumes.
“When he was first asked to be Uncle Sam in April 1998, I made his costume in two days,” she said.
Bunce learned to walk on stilts as a young man, when he worked as a drywall hanger.
“I strapped them on, and once I got up, I didn’t have any trouble,” he recalled. “It’s just like walking normally.”
The only time he has difficulty, he said, is when he can’t see his feet. He recalled falling only once.
“When I do parades, sometimes I’ll walk up to some old people sitting on a porch and give them some candy,” he said. “I did that one night in Watsontown, and I forgot about the curb when I walked back to the parade, so down I went. I got right back up, though.”
Bunce enjoys his role.
“I do it for the kids,” he said. “I really enjoy doing things for little kids.”
In the course of the Lewisburg parade, Bunce and his wife, who sometimes accompanies him dressed as the Statue of Liberty, distribute 4,000 pieces of candy.
“We donate it all,” he said. “I have three people who replenish my candy supply along the route.”
He used to carry the candy in a basket, but his wife got him an old-fashioned bank bag and sewed play money around it.
After the parades, Bunce enjoys going to restaurants such as Dunkin Donuts and Wendy’s to greet astonished children and adults. He used to walk to Lewisburg’s Dunkin Donuts after the parade, but now he rides in the back of a pickup so he doesn’t have to take off his stilts after each stop.
“I can’t acknowledge everyone who yells or waves while I’m in the parade,” he explained.
The making of Uncle Sam
The term “Uncle Sam” for the United States evolved from Samuel Wilson, a government meat inspector from Troy, N.Y. During the War of 1812, Wilson, who was known as Uncle Sam, saw barrels of meat stamped U.S. (for United States). Someone asked him what the initials meant, and he jokingly replied, “Uncle Sam.” Wilson was well-known for his fairness, reliability and devotion to his country, qualities passed on to the mythical Uncle Sam.
The term became to symbolize the United States, and in 1861, a drawing in a Washington, D.C., newspaper first showed a character wearing a starred hat and striped shirt. In 1869, the famed political cartoonist Thomas Nast depicted Uncle Sam as a tall man wearing a top hat, striped trousers and chin whiskers, which has become the “standard” image of Uncle Sam.
The cover of Leslie’s Weekly Magazine of July 6, 1916, by James Montgomery Flagg, became the most famous image of Uncle Sam. More than 4 million posters of that image were made during 1917-18.
News
Related Photos
-
Matthew Harris/The Daily Item
Discussion
Uncle Sam: Retired prison guard has a tall feat
- News
-
-
Memorial Day Observances
Here is a listing of Memorial Day events this weekend in the Central Susquehanna Valley.
-
Four charged in ripoffs that hurt eight local senior citizens
Four Philadelphia men have been charged with operating an elaborate scam that targeted hundreds of elderly residents across Pennsylvania, including eight Valley seniors.
-
Midd-West taxpayers face increase of $109
MIDDLEBURG — The Midd-West School District on Thursday night announced an average property tax increase of $109 to help offset its $1.8 million budget deficit for the 2012-13 school year.
Midd-West will also close two elementary schools, consolidate two middle schools, cut programs and furlough seven teachers and 23 other staff members. -
Jokester cop tased intern at station
NORTHUMBERLAND — A Northumberland police detective claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday he was wrongly blamed after an officer shot an intern with a Taser gun while fooling around at the police station in December.
-
Jerry Sandusky charity to shut down and transfer programs
PHILADELPHIA — The charity for troubled youths started by Jerry Sandusky more than three decades ago — and through which the retired Penn State assistant football coach met the boys he is charged with sexually abusing — said today it is seeking court approval to shut down and transfer its programs to a Texas-based youth ministry that serves abused and neglected children.
-
Man pleads guilty in 2006 Penn State student death
STATE COLLEGE — A man whose murder conviction was previously thrown out in the fatal beating of a Penn State student six years ago has pleaded guilty in the killing under a deal with prosecutors.
-
Streaker at Phillies-Cardinals game last night lost a bet
ST. LOUIS — The streaker who ran naked onto the field during a Cardinals game says he did so because he lost a bet.
-
Privately-operated Dragon capsule arrives at space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space station astronauts have captured the Dragon. The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station today, making history as the first commercial delivery truck in orbit
-
10 Things to Know Today
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today (times EDT):
-
LARA: Charred bridge sound
LEWISBURG — The fire-damaged railroad bridge crossing the Susquehanna River at Lewisburg is structurally sound following the March fire that discolored steel and charred roughly 400 ties, the Lewisburg Area Recreation Authority said at its meeting Thursday.
-
Stat of the Day: $2.6 million
Stat of the Day: $2.6 million.
That's what President Barack Obama has spent on advertising in Iowa, which may be a battleground state in November's election against presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
-
Northampton County jury sentences man to death in officer killing
EASTON — Jurors in eastern Pennsylvania have sentenced a man to death for fatally shooting a police officer last summer.
- More News Headlines
-
