A running shower on parade

LIBERTY, NY — Steady rains on the Fourth of July didn’t dampen the spirit of the Main St. parade. In fact, the raindrops had absolutely no impact at all on Daniel Lewis, who was pulled down the parade route in a bathtub, complete with a running shower. The tub was hitched up to a tractor driven by Lewis’s brother, Sean. The shower was created with the help of Lewis’s grandfather, Jimmy Mentnech of Woodbourne. All three men are members of the Roundout/Neversink Tractor Club, and they rigged up a one-cylinder gas engine to keep the water flowing through the showerhead.

Lewis was joined in the procession by about a dozen tractors, two dozen vintage cars, fire trucks, politicians, musical acts such as the Mountain Tones, young girls in tutus and members of Sullivan Peace and Justice.

But more than any of the others, the traveling bathtub came prepared for a shower.