Posted by daveS on Sunday, November 10, 2002 at 2:19PM :
The Intermont Chapter of the MVPA has been asked to bring their WWII vehicles to participate in the Veteran's Day (11/11/02) parade in Lexington, VA (home of VMI). This parade will be shown on Good Morning America as the Virginia entry. There will be a 3/4 Dodge command car, my 1/2 ton Dodge WC12, a Weasel, a CCKW shop van, a GPW, maybe a Harley WLA, and some other vehicles. I don't know if they will show the vehicles, but I hope so. The command car is really sharp.
Dave Skelly
Good Morning America To Be Here Monday Morning
by Roberta Anderson
It's almost show time. Camera crews for the ABC morning news show, "Good Morning America," will begin arriving in Lexington on Friday to prepare for the show's live broadcast from downtown Lexington and the campuses of Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University on Monday morning.
The show's hosts, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, are also expected in the area sometime this weekend to film prerecorded segments that will also be part of Monday's show.
The "Good Morning America" broadcast is part of the 50 states in 50 weeks promotion by ABC news. The Lexington segment will represent Virginia and will be shown as part of the November ratings sweeps.
Area residents are being encouraged to turn out Monday morning to be part of the audience at all three locations during the live broadcast. A large number of spectators is anticipated. Network personnel have told Lexington officials to be prepared because over 5,000 people were present during the broadcast of the Minnesota segment that originated in the small town of Stillwater.
The show, which airs from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays, locally on WSET channel 13, will open with the breakfast roll call of cadets at VMI. Local tourism director Jean Clark said that venue was selected because "it is so visually appealing and unique, not the typical college scene." The corps will be shown in formation in front of the barracks while the flag is raised. At the same time, VMI spokesman Ken White said, an ROTC unit may be engaged in some form of physical training on the parade ground. The corps will then march to the mess hall with Gibson and Sawyer.
White said that ABC also wanted to incorporate training on an obstacle course as part of the VMI portion of the broadcast. Because of wanting to do it live and the logistics of broadcasting from the existing course, a second course will be constructed by network personnel this weekend on the parade ground. A segment on the course is scheduled for 7:45 a.m. In between, taped segments filmed this weekend with Gibson and Sawyer interviewing cadets in the barracks will be aired.
Spectators will be invited to watch the VMI segment from the road surrounding the parade ground and then move, along with the hosts, to the downtown location at the intersection of Washington and Main streets at 8 a.m.
A special Veterans Day parade, planned for this portion of the broadcast, will travel up Main Street from Henry Street past the Veterans Memorial almost to the Nelson Street intersection. Nelson Street will remain open to traffic. The parade is open to all local veterans representing the Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Lexington, Buena Vista and Glasgow and the American Legion. The veterans will be divided in the parade by eras and identified by banners carried by local school cheerleaders. Transportation in the parade will be provided to nonambulatory veterans.
The parade will be led by a color guard and bagpipe unit from VMI. Bands from Rockbridge County High School and Lylburn Downing Middle School will also participate. There will also be an antique vehicle provided by the Lexington Fire Department and possibly classic cars in the parade. Lexington Mayor John Knapp and perhaps city manager Jon Ellestad will also be part of the event. Clark said that 1,000 small American flags have been ordered to pass out to people in the crowd.
Following the parade, Gibson and Sawyer are expected to move down Washington Street toward W&L, possibly stopping off to visit in the Lexington Coffee Roasting Co., Wendell's Barber Shop and Goodhart's Secondhand Shop.
The final portion of the live broadcast will originate from the front campus of Washington & Lee in the vicinity of Lee Chapel and Washington Hall. Network officials earlier this week were still considering what to do for the show's finale from this location. Several options, including a performance by a musical group, have been discussed. An idea presented early on that probably will not take place was to have the theater department at W&L make the hosts disappear at the end of the show. Another possible segment will focus on the original James River Co. stock certificate, presented to the university by George Washington, which still provides residuals to help today's students.
In addition to Sawyer and Gibson, "Good Morning America" regulars Tony Perkins and Robin Roberts will also be in Lexington for the Veterans Day broadcast. This will be Roberts' third visit to Lexington. She was here previously as a sports analyst for ESPN.
While in Lexington this weekend, Gibson and Sawyer will prerecord other spots to be shown as part of Monday's show, including possible interviews with members of the Effinger Fire Department about making homemade apple butter and a lesson in the traditional Appalachian form of dancing known as flatfooting with Bruce Clark and the Clark Lumber Boys.
Promos for the Lexington broadcast were shot last week when an ABC crew from Washington, D.C., came to the area. The segments were made in Natural Bridge, Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, the Shenandoah Attic in downtown Lexington and on the VMI campus, where a group of cadets in unison urged Charlie and especially Diane to visit them at VMI. People on the street were stopped and asked why they felt Lexington was a worthy destination for the morning show — "Lee Chapel and the Palms," according to one W&L student. Promotional segments will probably start to air on Friday.
Ellestad said that no special provisions have been made for parking next Monday morning. It will be on a first-come, first-served basis as on other weekday mornings. A VMI spokesman said that parking at the school will be limited to the lots behind Smith Hall and the Marshall Museum and along Maiden Lane, which is the first street to the left past the gates at the top of Letcher Avenue. Vehicles can also be parked along U.S. 11, in the lot behind Alumni Memorial Stadium off Diamond Street.