The hatchet was successfully buried once again Thursday at Sussex County Return Day in Georgetown, despite a few hints of discord.
Return Day, a uniquely Sussex County tradition, has been celebrated two days after Election Day for over 200 years. It’s only ever been canceled twice, during World War II (1942) and COVID-19 (2020).
The name is the result of a historic election practice. In the late 1700s, Sussex residents’ votes had to be cast in the county seat of Georgetown. The voters would return to town two days later to hear the results read, hence the name “Return Day,” according to the Return Day website.
The event has always been a carnival of sorts, with food, drinks, vendors and entertainment. It starts Wednesday evening with live music, as one of the oldest food traditions is prepared: an overnight ox roast in an open-pit barbecue, from which free sandwiches are served at the end of the festivities.
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Nowadays, a “Mayor’s Hatchet Toss” is held Thursday morning, followed by more live entertainment until the parade begins. Afterward, the leaders of each Delaware political party gather onstage, each putting a hand on a hatchet and symbolically burying it in a box of beach sand.
Hints of discord
The hatchet was indeed buried this year, but one Return Day tradition was notably absent.
The winners and losers of each political race have, in the past, ridden through the parade together in horse-drawn carriages. It’s another of Return Day’s nods to democracy.
More recently, some politicians have chosen to walk or ride atop convertibles, but there’s always a few vehicles of some sort or another shared by the winner and loser of a particular race.
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Not this year.
Part of the reason for that is likely the resolution issued by the Delaware Democratic Party in September asking members not to ride in the carriages.
The Democrats believed the carriages to be owned by the Marvel Museum, run by the Georgetown Historical Society. The museum and society have been the subject of scrutiny (sometimes more, sometimes less) since allowing a Confederate flag and memorial to be erected on their property in 2007. The flames of controversy were re-lit again this year when the society requested and was granted over $24,000 from the Georgetown Town Council.
But only “a couple” of the carriages used in the Return Day parade in recent years belong to the Marvel Museum, according to Return Day Board President and Georgetown Historical Society board member Debbie Jones. The rest are privately owned.
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For example, longtime politician Dave Wilson (R-Milford) brings his own carriage. This year, it was adorned with a sign that said “This carriage is privately owned and operated by Dave Wilson.”
The carriage refusal was, like many things at Return Day, symbolic, according to Delaware Democratic Party President Travis Williams. It “was kind of a values statement to say that we’re not willing to associate ourselves with the Confederate flag and the Marvel Museum,” he said.
When the Georgetown Town Council came through the Return Day parade Thursday, they passed a single protestor (Fleur McKendall, President of the NAACP Central Delaware Branch) holding a sign that said “The confederate flag stands for hate and racism. Sue, Angela and Penuel, take a stand!”
Sue Barlow, Angela Townsend and Penuel Barrett are the three out of five Georgetown councilmembers who have continuously voted to give the historical society the taxpayer money.
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The group that erected and maintains the flag, Delaware Grays Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 2068, marched in the Return Day parade this year, as well. The crowd on The Circle quieted briefly as they passed. Someone yelled, “Take that racist flag down!” Someone else yelled, “It’s history!”
And the festivities continued.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County, Delaware, and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught
