Gov. Sonny Perdue, accepting

an invitation to "come on down and see our parade sometime,"

will ride at the head of Peachtree City's annual Fourth of July procession

on Friday, it was confirmed this week.

Mayor Steve Brown said Monday

that he mentioned the city's unique parade to the governor during a meeting

several weeks ago of the Metro Atlanta Mayors Association, but didn't

think anymore about it.

The governor's staff called

the city recreation department last Wednesday to confirm his participation,

and a surprised Randy Gaddo, director of Leisure Services, answered the

phone.

With little more than a week

to go, the parade lineup was pretty much set. What to do?

What else could Gaddo and parade

coordinator Susan Taylor do? When the governor wants to come be in your

parade, you make room.

Perdue, the first sitting state

chief executive to participate in the colorful procession and the first

Republican governor since reconstruction, has been named co-grand marshal,

sharing the duties with local members of the U.S. military recently returned

from combat.

He'll be riding in a convertible

BMW, quickly procured, said Gaddo, and not a golf cart.

While no one will predict,

Perdue is likely to get an earful from the thousands of residents expected

to line the parade route, many upset over a state appeals court ruling

that puts the brakes on under-16 golf cart drivers.

Gaddo admits he's not sure

what to expect in the way of golf cart protests, if any.

He's more concerned that the

governor feel welcome and the parade go off without a hitch, seeing as

how it's been moved to an entirely different part of town for the first

time in decades, Peachtree Parkway south.

"We're thrilled that the

governor and his wife, Mary, will be joining us this year," Gaddo

said. " I believe he'll find our parade like no other he's been in."

Lynn Cromer of the governor's

office said Perdue's advisors were fully aware of and briefed on the golf

cart controversy, but that it had no bearing on his decision to come to

Peachtree City on Friday.

"He's there for the July

4th parade and no other reason," Cromer said.

Brown agreed.

"Oh, no, it's not related

to that at all," said the mayor. "This is a big Republican community.

It's close enough to Atlanta that he can participate in a number of high-profile

events around the metro area."

Indeed, Perdue's agenda for

Friday will take him all over the region: Peachtree Road Race at 7 a.m.,

Peachtree City's parade at 9 a.m., the WSB-TV Salute 2 America Parade

downtown at 1, then fireworks at Lenox Square later that night.

For more information on the

parade, see the accompanying story or contact the Recreation Department

at 770-631-2542.

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