GEORGETOWN, Del. -- The historic Return Day celebration and parade returned to Sussex County on Thursday, but not everyone was willing to take part in all of the event's traditions. Delaware Democrats followed through with their decision to not ride alongside their Republican counterparts in carriages during the parade.
Their decision is a stance against a Confederate flag flown at the Marvel Museum in Georgetown. Some - but not all - of the carriages used in the parade belong to the museum. Executive director of the Democratic Party of Delaware, Travis Williams, told WBOC last week that none of their candidates would be riding in the carriages. Instead, they would ride in their cars or walk. Sussex County's 20th District Representative and Democrat Stell Parker Selby is one of the candidates who chose to ride in her car on Thursday in effort to protest the flag.
"It really bothers me tremendously that someone could not say, 'Yeah, we know that's a flag we have our history by, but let's put it in the museum', so even people like myself can go into the museum and see it," says Parker Selby.
Members of the NAACP - who helped organize Democrats' stance against the flag - were also in attendance at Return Day. They used it as an opportunity to support Delaware Democrats and protest the flag.
"The Democratic Party and some Republicans that have chosen to align with us actually see that the flag is just a symbol of pain and torture, white privilege, racism and hate," says Fleur McKendell, president of the Central Delaware Branch of the NAACP.
However, there are others that disagree with Democrats' choice to no ride in the carriages and believe that the confederate should continue to fly high at the museum. Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans - who erected the confederate monument at the Marvel Museum - participated in the parade. They carried confederate flags.
"We're just trying to keep history alive and pertinent, and out there so people can see and learn," says Jeff Plummer, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Some onlookers at the parade agreed.
"[Democrats] want me to go to their way of thinking and get rid of [the flag]. Well, I'm happy that they're not, and I just don't think that not riding in the carriage is the right thing," says longtime Georgetown resident Steve Tidwell.
Many Democrats on Thursday say they will continue to protest the confederate flag flying at the Marvel Museum until Sussex County and museum officials can come to an agreement that involves removing the flag from it's current place on museum grounds.