Published: November 04, 2009 03:49 pm      

March through time: Centennial time to celebrate past, and future

What does it mean for something to become 100 years old? These days, it’s not too unusual for a person to turn 100; even ages of 110 aren’t unheard of anymore. Some antiques that are 100 or more years old aren’t that extraordinary nowadays.

Of course, the people marking their 100th year are more valuable than the antiques; the antiques can tell their stories only if an expert examines them, and even then you get only a few interesting facts. The living people can give you insights into eras you may never understand otherwise.

A city is much the same way. Yes, there are plenty of artifacts ranging from municipal records to buildings, but the population is the most important element.

Without people, the city is just a point on the map with some streets and structures. The citizens’ collective memories are even more important than the objects and papers sitting on shelves.

The year 2009 is the city of Princeton’s centennial, so these memories are being brought forth for the occasion.

Festivals and other activities celebrating this 100th birthday bring citizens and guests together to remember the city’s past. Activities such as the recent AutumnFest help bring more people into Princeton.

And one upcoming event may bring even more people into the city.

This year’s Princeton Christmas Parade on Nov. 30 also has a centennial theme — “100 Years of Christmas in Princeton.”

Organizers think that coupling the city’s centennial and Christmas could make this year’s parade one of the biggest ever. Volunteers for the Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce, the “Link Ladies,” have been going door-to-door and visiting local businesses, encouraging potential participants to enter floats or join the parade in some other way.

Registrations for floats must be received by Nov. 20. The chamber can be contacted at (304) 487-1502.

Last year’s Christmas Parade had more than 100 units stretching for a mile through the city. Since the parade is so big, the line-up fills up Thorn, East Mercer and South 2nd Streets. The parade itself takes about an hour to run its whole route.

I remember living on Mercer Street and seeing the parade go by, and always wondered how it managed to fit through the streets. Bands, floats and other units would go by and at least a thousand people lined the streets.

Of course, all the children watched the floats wide eyed, waved to everybody and waited for the big moment when Santa Claus came down the street.

That’s the grand finale of every Christmas parade I’ve ever seen.

I even remember one parade in particular because I was living in an apartment then and somebody swiped my parking space. Talking to the culprits wouldn’t have done any good because other parade goers had them blocked in; besides, Christmas is the time of giving and, perhaps, forgiving the faults of others.

In between the Christmas parades, the city has changed; in fact, it’s changed a lot since I first came to Mercer County almost 20 years ago. The number and types of businesses along Stafford Drive and Mercer Street have changed so much that I probably wouldn’t recognize the Princeton of years past.

Banks have been built, new stores and restaurants have been erected, and the Chuck Mathena Center wasn’t even an idea.

A hundred years isn’t even a blink of the eye in the whole grand scheme of time, but a lot can happen during that century. Reel back time another century and you would scarcely recognize Princeton and Mercer County at all.

I doubt we will recognize Princeton in another century. Trends we can’t even imagine will appear and businesses we never dreamed of will have storefronts along Stafford Drive. High School kids — if there are still high schools as we understand them — of 2109 will likely not understand words like “Internet,” and will wonder how kids of 2009 made do with primitive iPods and laptops.

Perhaps, someday, researchers preparing for Princeton’s bicentennial will research the centennial of 2009, wonder about life a century past and try to understand the lessons that generation has to teach.

Greg Jordan is a reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com.