Parade Fun

Small town parades are definitely the best, don't you think. When you are watching a town parade, if you look closely you'll notice that most everyone watching the parade knows most everyone who is in the parade. They bring out the local boy scouts, and the mini cheerleaders, and no parade would be complete with out the local Shriner lodge driving around in those little cars acting more like 7 year olds than their wise 60's and 70's. This is nothing like the massive parades I grew up with in Lynchburg that hosted more beauty queens and car dealerships than anything else. It is quaint and cute and the people who participate have so much fun waving and throwing candy and honking their antique cars. Times like these are a definite check in the "pro" column when it comes to small town living.

This afternoon, I took Gracie to watch the parade in Edinburg. They were celebrating their annual Old Town Festival-- and I had no idea that many people inhabited the tiny town 25 minutes from us--it was packed! Our neighbor Mallory was in the parade and I knew Gracie would get kick out of it--so we shrugged off the very overcast skies and went anyway.

Gracie enjoyed the last parade we attended, which was in Strasburg this summer, but she really liked this one probably because of all of the bands. Gracie has an inherited love for marching bands and instruments, so she was thrilled to watch 2 local high school bands and a drum & fife corps march by. But those didn't overshadow the tractors, little queens, clowns, and adorable mini cheerleaders tossing out candy. Gracie especially loved the candy part, and she found herself in possession of several pieces. But, I think her favorite was Smokey the Bear. She waved and smiled at him--she kept calling out "hi bear!"

Following the parade we walked the festival a bit and found Colette and Mallory helping sell deserts, we petted some kitties the local animal shelter had on display, and Gracie got to draw on the enormous concrete wall with sidewalk chalk like hundreds of other kids had that day. She had a great time, and I loved watching her smile and wave at all the parade participants. We had a good time.

If you're wondering where Daddy was, he stayed behind and deep cleaned the refrigerator--I think he is secretly afraid of clowns :)

You can find more festival pictures in the recently created September 2006 Snapfish folder.

**Above: Gracie waves to the horses and people dressed in very old fashioned garb**

Share this post