'Tis the season, all over the country, including here, there are holiday parades. Our local one is the “Festival of Lights.”
Then we have the St Patrick’s Day parade, the Spring Spree parade, the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Parade, the Territorial Days parade that takes place in Old Colorado City (a part of Colorado Springs, which was the red light district in the 1800s,) the Veteran’s Day parade, parade, parade, parade.
I know we have more parades, those are just the “major” parades.
So, do you make an effort in your community to see any or all of the parades that are featured in your community?
Me, I can’t stand them. They are usually the same bands, the same floats and the same people every darn year.
Now, up in a little city called Manitou Springs on the outskirts of my city, those people know how to have a good time. Every October they have the coffin races. In December they have the Fruit Cake Toss. They have fun stuff, but a parade, ugh. It was fine in the late 1800s to the early and mid 1900s but now I think parades have run their time.
I wish more Shriners would come out of the closet. The only thing missing from most Gay Pride parades is a contingent of fat middle age men driving three-foot cars. And the fezzes could easily refer to Akbar & Jeff.
I hate parades. They’re too long, the weather is always boiling or frigid (usually boiling, even during the “Christmas” parade), and the city council doesn’t know how to schedule them. The Christmas parade was the Saturday before Thanksgiving! It was 75 and sunny. Not Christmas weather.
Of course, I’m in a marching band. I have to be in the parade. Watching is okay. The Shriners are eternally amusing (gotta love the belly dancers, even if they are 60 year old fat men dancing around with no shirts) and there’s always candy being handed out.
jessica
Parades. Yuck. I hated them even when I was a kid. I can’t stand to be in a crowd of people who are all annoyed because each person feels that he or she could have the perfect view if only they were a foot to the left, or a foot to the right. So you have hundreds of people jockeying for position for the duration of the parade. Plus, the thing of which they are trying to have the perfect view isn’t even interesting to begin with.
And heaven help you if you are actually trying to go anywhere during a parade, and the parade route is between you and your destination. Here in New York, I routinely go into bunker mentality and try to stock up on supplies in advance of the big parades. St. Patrick’s Day, Puerto Rican Day, Thanksgiving, Gay Pride Day, Halloween, Greek Independence Day, and the biannual Yankees Win The World Series Day require some careful planning to make sure that I never have to set foot within five blocks of any given point on the parade route.
One of my fondest parade memories is that of the Fourth of July Parade in Towson, Maryland. It’s a great parade! A lot of the people on the passing floats would throw candy to us kids. The general atmosphere was just fun and joyous. I still go to this parade. It has everything… clowns, antique cars, Shriners, etc.
When I was a kid, the best part was when Clarence Long, a particularly liberal Maryland congressman, would go by. My dad’s face would get soooo red. It was like, you could not get rid of the guy; he was voted back in every time, and that guy drove my dad just absolutely nuts!. The fact that everyone around us was clapping for Mr. Long was just too much for my dad, I guess. Heh, heh.
Also, significantly, I think, was the time we took a Vietnamese family to see that parade in 1975. Saigon had just fallen (if I remember correctly; I was just a kid), and my dad had helped get the family out of Vietnam to safety in the US. The guy was a businessman wanted by the Vietcong for something, I guess. I think my father wanted to give the man and his family a true “American” experience. That was cool.
I try to make the Mummer’s Parade ever year, here in Philly. It’s usualy a beer soaked day and can be quite fun, if you stay clear of the occasional testosterone-filled jackass.
I’m guessing they’re an arm or division of the Masons… we have a bunch of old stuff embossed with “Bou-Tem-Sci Club, Inc.”, and we were active Masons, Eastern Star, etc. in our family. Officially, the Shriners are called the “Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine”. They are a fraternal non-profit organization. In addition to providing their memebers with social interaction, they do good works and charity. The Shriners’ largest fundraiser is the Annual Shrine Circus. Profits from the circus go to support the Shriners’ Children’s Hospital.
I think the “Mystic Arabic” theme, fez, and little car things are just for fun.
The only parades we go to are the 4th of July and Christmas (Festival of Lights) parade. I don’t really mind them too much because the kids get such a kick out of them and they get candy and stuff. The 4th of July parade sucks because it’s always so freakin’ hot but it’s still o.k.
We just went to our Festival of Lights parade Saturday night and it was pretty decent this year. The best part were the Harley’s that went by decorated with Christmas lights and all carrying a giant American flag on the back. It was really cool. Only lasted about 30 minutes and it wasn’t too terribly cold.
