Just for a day, Silver Spring gets a Purple Line

Purple Line supporters know what this time of year means: it’s parade season!

For the second year in a row, the Action Committee for Transit dressed up as a light-rail train and walked in Montgomery County’s Thanksgiving Parade in Silver Spring.

ACT members and supporters, including members of the Montgomery County Young Democrats and Transit Alternatives to Mid County Highway, marched in the 17th annual parade, blowing whistles and handing out stickers and purple Hershey’s kisses.

This year, ACT members added to Barbara Ditzler’s hand-made six-person train costume with a walking list of each of the Purple Line’s 21 proposed stations. Miriam Schoenbaum, of Boyds, made the addition.

Young superheroes, clad in purple capes and with “P” emblazoned on their chests, carried the ACT banner and accompanied both Ditzier’s train and Schoenbaum’s line of stations.

For next year, Ditzler is considering retiring the current costume, which is made out of plastic, and replacing it with one constructed of fabric.

If you’d like to march with ACT, it’s not too early to sign up for the 2015 parade and to start working on even more costumes!