One of Brandon’s most-decorated citizens took his turn as grand marshal for the Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, an event that honoree B. Lee Elam, a Key Citizen and Alice B. Tompkins Community Service Award recipient, called a formidable “celebration of community.”
The parade started at the corner of Lumsden Road and Parsons Avenue, where Elam once maintained his law practice and large outdoor sign, used often to spread town news. Known as “Lee’s sign,” it still stands, used by its now-owner, the Reed & Reed law firm.
Elam, with Rotary District 6890 Governor Chevon Baccus, rode the 2024 parade in cool fashion, with burning memories of the 67-year-old parade’s early days. He rode in an EV Hummer driven by his grandson, Joey White, courtesy of fellow Rotarian Roger Rivard, owner of Rivard Buick GMC. With Elam was his wife, Pat; his grandson, Zachary White; and his great-grandson, Joey White III. The Hummer was accompanied by a “Rotary”-wrapped car, from which Baccus waved to the crowd.
At the Lumsden and Parsons intersection for years, Elam would host the preparade morning ritual that determined that year’s Brandon honorary mayor, given to the candidate who raised the most money in June for nonprofits. The winner would be announced on Lee’s sign.
Nat Storms was the first honorary mayor, and Jorgie Franks is the latest honoree, with no race held in 2024. Dick Stowers, a funeral director born on July 4 and the namesake of the elementary school in Lithia, would walk the State Road 60 parade route while greeting kids in a clown costume sporting a red nose. Years later, Elam, through an adoption agency, would invite kids to feast on grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and watch the parade from the lawn outside his offices.
Elam said he is the last living of the first four attorneys in Brandon, encouraged by Stowers to move from Clair-Mel to Brandon. Long retired, Elam remains a member of the Brandon Rotary Club, where at the Rivard-Simmons Rotary Event Center on Kings Avenue he still makes time for his enduring poker club.
As for the parade, “I like the size of it, the fact that it’s been ongoing for so long and that we’re continuing the tradition for the parade in Brandon,” Elam said. He said it’s great that after a scaled-down effort during the COVID-19 years, the newly formed Greater Brandon Action Network (GBAN) has taken on parade duties formerly carried out by the Presidents Roundtable of Greater Brandon Charities, more recently known as the Community Roundtable.
For that, Elam gives high praise to Lisa Rodriguez, a past Roundtable board member and now GBAN president. She is the longtime widow of Sandy Rodriguez, who with his wife worked for years in community affairs, including helping to establish the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association. The center shares space with the Brandon Regional Library at 619 Vonderburg Dr.
Elam said Sandy is his friend and biggest client, and Lisa, a past Brandon honorary mayor and Key Citizen and Tompkins awards recipient, earns deep respect from him as a tireless civic leader.
“Lisa has been everything that a community could ask for,” Elam said. “She’s always been involved in everything that’s helpful to Brandon, and her daughter, and my goddaughter, Kaia Leigh, is right there with her.”
