July 4th notes

It was a great fourth of July once again in Claremont. COURIER photographer Gabriel Fenoy was out and about from 8 a.m. to the last firework to capture all the great moments.

Here's a few of his photos that didn't make it into tomorrow's paper. You can also view a photo gallery of his best shots tomorrow on our website.







I ran in the Claremont Freedom 5000 race, as did my colleague Brenda Bolinger. I put up a decent time of 23.17 that I'm pretty proud of and wrote a column about the run for tomorrow's paper. Click here for the race results.

For some it was a very long day. City staff and countless volunteers worked hard to make July 4th a great success. We thank them for all their efforts.

But one man was noticeably missing for much of the day's activities. Mayor Corey Calaycay, pictured below, pulled a no-show for the Flag Raising and Opening Ceremonies at 10 a.m. and was still absent for his 11 a.m. address at the Speaker's Corner.

By 11:30 a.m., city staff was getting seriously worried about his safety. Police, fire fighters and assistant city manager Tony Ramos were sent to Calaycay's house to make sure he was okay.

They found him, alive and well, if not a bit sleepy-eyed. The mayor had simply overslept. He eventually made his way down to Memorial Park to join in the fun and apologized for his earlier absence.

"It's never a nice thing to have to begin a speech with an apology but I must do that," he said at the Speaker's Corner. "It's tradition for the mayor to open the speaker's corner and I was truly looking forward to that and I'm embarrassed to say I overslept this morning."

Mayor Corey Calaycay and Mayor Pro Tem Linda Elderkin wave to the crowd at the 4th of July parade.