Thousands turn out for annual Fountain City Classic Parade

For more than 25 years, Franklin Pitts of Columbus has found himself supporting the Albany State University Rams, but he has many friends pulling for the Fort Valley State University Wildcats.

Pitts joined thousands lining the sidewalks of Phenix City and downtown Columbus on Saturday for the 27th Annual Fountain City Classic Parade before the 2 p.m. contest at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium in Columbus.

With a bright blue Fountain City T-shirt on his shoulder, Pitts said he attended Albany for two semesters while serving as a recruiter in 1991 for the Army. That work created a relationship with fans of both schools.

“I want the Rams to win,” Pitts said with a smile. “I’ve got some friends I recruited out of Terrell County and Lee County and all of them went to Fort Valley, so we get together and jive about the game and stuff like that.”

The parade was a big draw for political candidates, including Ann Hardman for Superior Court Clerk and Sheriff John Darr running for re-election. He was riding a pickup truck and tossing candy to the crowd.

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, is not running for office but many at the parade picked up a colorful shopping bag with a picture of Obama, wife Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha on it.

The $5 bag caught the eye of Portia Walker who was in the crowd to support Albany State.

“I appreciate what we have today,” Walker said looking at her bag featuring the first black president. “When our children see that, it’s hope, a goal,” she said. “You never know. We didn’t know that, either, but we saw it. It’s possible. Everything is possible.”

While there were politicians in the crowd, Olivia Searcy of Columbus had some concerns about the number of schools and groups dancing in the parade.

“To be honest with you, it’s getting to point that it’s a lot of dancing kids in there,” said Searcy, an Albany supporter. “They are talking about it, and there are more children in dance and really shouldn’t be.”

Searcy pointed to a group of preteen girls who performed a routine more suitable for a parade than girls gyrating and twerking in the streets.

“We’d rather see young ladies,” she said.

There wasn’t a lot of dancing in the east parking lot at the Columbus Civic Center, but space was tight and the music was loud. Just about every space for tailgating was filled with everything from pickup trucks and cars to huge buses.

Willie Tigner of Columbus said All For One Tailgating has enjoyed meeting at the game for the past four years. With about 30 members, Tigner said the group put up six tents then cooked 15 slabs of ribs, 30 pounds of sausage, hamburgers and rib tips to serve 100 people.

It makes no difference whether you root for Albany or Fort Valley. “It don’t matter with us,” he said. “We are just out here having fun with relatives and friends.

“We feed everybody that comes.”

The group even placed two empty chairs for members who passed away earlier this year. “They were supporters of the All For One,” Tigner said of the late Leonard Evans and Willie Strozier.

Lizzie King came from Macon to support Fort Valley. “I’ve been coming down here about four years,” she said. “It is two rivals. They are close to home and they have been doing this since the ’90s.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Thousands turn out for annual Fountain City Classic Parade."