Delaware politicos gather in Georgetown to ‘bury the hatchet’ after campaign season

Why Should Delaware Care?
“The Delaware Way” was on full display during Georgetown’s biannual Return Day celebration, where winning and losing political candidates alike gathered in the Sussex County seat as a show of statewide unity in the face of political differences. But during this year’s celebrations, the message of unity was undercut, at times, by moments where partisanship peeked out.

A slew of Delaware’s newly elected officials, along with some of their losing opponents in this week’s midterm elections, gathered together in Georgetown on Thursday to literally “bury the hatchet” as part of a centuries-old celebration of post-campaign unity in the Sussex County seat.

Return Day — which dates back to at least 1811, and even earlier by some accounts — is a biannual tradition in which Election Day winners and losers from up and down Delaware’s ballot ride together in a parade through the center of Georgetown, the Circle. 

And many historians agree that Sussex County is the only place in the country with a post-election celebration tradition like this one. 

The all-day festival also features hatchet-burying ceremony, where Sussex County’s Democratic and Republican Party leaders literally and proverbially “bury the hatchet” in a box of sand from nearby Lewes Beach. The tradition is meant to symbolize the end to a contentious campaign season and declare a renewed sense of camaraderie and commitment to “The Delaware Way.”

“Today, we are all Americans. Not Democrats, not Republicans — all Americans,” Sussex County Republican Party Chair Tom Molnar said after burying the hatchet with his Democratic counterpart, Loretta Benson.  

As Georgetown Town Crier Kirk Lawson and Sussex County Sheriff Robert Lee read the election results from a balcony on the county courthouse building, attendees clapped for the candidates and munched on barbecued ox sandwiches, another Return Day tradition. 

But while the day’s events proceeded as planned, there were some hints that politicians and attendees alike may no longer heed the day’s message of First State unity amid an increasingly politically polarized climate.

Parading through Georgetown

More than a thousand people gathered in and around The Circle in Georgetown to witness the day’s festivities, which some attendees described as a showcase of Delaware’s unique collegiality among elected officials and their opponents. 

Julianna Puchalsky-Szabo and Erle Eaton, who recently moved to Georgetown from Nevada, said the event struck them as an introduction to “what Delaware has to offer.” 

“It’s kind of a nice model,” Eaton said. “Delaware just being the first state, leading the way. I don’t think other states have that in them.” 

The roughly hour-long parade featured a couple dozen candidates from Tuesday’s election riding in a mix of old-timey carriages, truck beds and cars decorated with their campaign logos. The candidates were interspersed with lively marching band music from various local high schools and universities and a showing of classic cars. 

Historically, the winners and losers of any given race ride together in the parade, but this year that tradition seemed to have faded. 

Some pairs of candidates kept the tradition alive, like State Auditor Lydia York and her opponent, April Callaway; state Representative-Elect Carlie Carey (R-Frankford) and her opponent, Maureen Madden; and state Senator-Elect Emily Thompson (R-Hartly) with Nisha Lodhavia. 

Losing Democratic candidate Joshua Pennington also rode with the winning Republican Morgan Hudson, who will now represent their Milford-area House district. Pennington said he and Hudson “very much stayed cordial” throughout the campaign, so they wanted to ride together in the parade. 

“We both agreed to physically show bipartisanship,” Pennington said. “Delaware is a more purple state than anything, and we all know each other most of the time, so it’s very indicative of what Delaware can look like.” 

In other cases, a grouping of candidates of the same party rode together, like Jill Hicks and Justine Cuccia, the Democratic candidates for Sussex County Council, and Republican Councilmen Doug Hudson and Matt Lloyd. 

Some losing candidates in closely watched races, including Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Katz, incumbent Sussex County Councilman John Rieley, and Democratic statehouse candidate Ryan Stuckey did not participate in the parade at all. 

Instead of riding in a traditional carriage, the other Republican federal candidate, Joe Arminio walked the parade, wearing a safari helmet and bouncing around to shake hands and pass out pamphlets about his policy platform. 

After a series of marching band performances from Sussex County high schools, a group walking from the Daughters of the American Revolution dressed in traditional Revolutionary War-era garb and local beauty pageant winners, the parade concluded with a lively performance by the Delaware State University marching band. 

“The vilification of one another is not the Delaware Way,” Hunter Landon, a WBOC news anchor who served as the event’s master of ceremonies said after the parade concluded.

And while unity was the message of the day, some attendees still shared their dissatisfaction with Tuesday’s election results while Lawson, the town crier, read the vote tabulations aloud. 

People generally cheered for winners, and sometimes losers, too. But when Lawson read the results of the 41st House District race, a smattering of boos at John Atkins’ win echoed through the crowd. 

Atkins, who faced controversy throughout the campaign season over his past domestic violence convictions, was the only candidate audibly booed during the ceremony. He has previously said those incidents are safely in his past after committing himself to his faith. Atkins won with more than 53% of the vote Tuesday night.

What is Return Day?

Held on the Thursday after Election Day on even-numbered years, Return Day celebrates the tradition of Sussex County residents — who once had to travel to Georgetown, the county seat, to cast their ballots – returning to hear the results from those elections read aloud by the town crier. 

Georgetown native Russ McCabe, who served as this year’s “expert color commentator” and is the former state archivist, said the first Return Day was held in 1811, after the county started splitting up voting by election districts. 

Other accounts trace the event’s start date back to 1792, when the county seat was moved from Lewes to Georgetown, but McCabe said he believes the true beginnings were a couple decades later, when representatives from the newly created election districts had to come to Georgetown to tabulate the results. 

The event expanded from a simple gathering to tally the votes to a bigger event with a parade and elected officials from the northern two counties coming down to participate in the 1830s or 1840s, he said. 

“There would be excursion trains where the candidates for a party would charter a train to come down to Georgetown,” McCabe, who has attended every Return Day of his life, said. 

The day’s parade historically featured opposing candidates riding together in horse drawn carriages, with the winner facing forward and the loser facing backward. Nowadays the carriages have largely been replaced with convertibles or other vintage cruisers, and opposing candidates do not face different directions — or sometimes ride together at all. 

The town crier still reads election results aloud, but the post-parade ceremony also includes a hatchet burying ceremony. Democratic, Republican and Independent Party leaders jointly sink a hatchet into a box filled with sand from Lewes Beach — a nod to the former Sussex County seat — as a symbol of unity and good governance taking precedence over the partisanship of campaigning.  

The festivities also include an open pit ox roast and free barbecued ox sandwiches for attendees. The event used to feature a roasted possum option, too, but McCabe said organizers abandoned that offering a while back. 

According to the Delaware Public Archives, Return Day is the only event of its kind in the country.

Another lifelong Return Day attendee, Georgetown resident Patti Towers, walked in the parade this year in 18th-century attire as part of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Towers described the day as a meaningful way to honor tradition and “mingle” with other community members. 

“If we can come together for one day, we can come together a lot more,” she said.

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