Oakmont's Light Up night parade came to a halt last night when the police officer riding the lead motorcycle stopped in the middle of the main street and gestured to a woman standing along the route.

At first, the spectators lining the streets at Allegheny River Boulevard and Maryland Avenue couldn't hear what the officer in the Oakmont police uniform said to the woman in the salmon-colored top. But when he dismounted, took out a ring and knelt down on one knee, the folks in the crowd figured it out.

Friends of the couple unfurled a banner urging Alice Marcus, 30, to say yes to Trevor Okonak, 28.

She quickly nodded her head. As the newly engaged couple hugged and kissed and the crowd applauded, another police officer mounted the motorcycle and the parade moved on down the road.

Later, surrounded by family, friends, and strangers who told Mr. Okonak they were happy they'd chosen to stand where they did, Ms. Marcus said she was feeling "shock, confusion and happiness." But she admitted that, prior to the parade, she'd suspected her new fiancé was up to something.

Mr. Okonak had been acting "shady," she said, and she thought it was strange that all of her friends and family decided to attend the parade. Still, she was stunned.

The two met more than three years ago, when Mr. Okonak brought someone in to be treated at UPMC St. Margaret in Aspinwall and met Ms. Marcus, a nurse, said her aunt, MaryAlice Meli of McCandless. Two months ago, Mr. Okonak secretly asked Ms. Marcus' mother for permission to marry her daughter. On Monday, they purchased a home together.

Last night, Mr. Okonak said he was worried he would not be able to find his girlfriend in the crowd, but she was right where her family and friends had surreptitiously stationed her -- in front of the clock tower on Allegheny River Boulevard.

Afterwards, she couldn't recall exactly what Mr. Okonak had said to her when he stopped the parade. But he did.

"I told her I'd stop the world for you," he said, "but right now you have to settle for a parade."

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