A bunch. That’s what being the daughter of a politician gets ya.
Waves hand!!! I ride in parades all the time. I look forward to doing this, I wash my bike and oil my leathers.
The best time is doing parades at the VA hospital. They do the best they can to jump up and down when we do burnouts.
One of the things I’ve learned about parades is that its a bad idea to drink anything before starting…and also…that when the parade starts, there is time to hit the restroom before our group moves. But, don’t delay.
I’ve also learned that the reason the horses go in front and the bikes get to mush around in horse poop is because horses get scared by the noise. I think that the cheerloaders also scare the horses, but its still a good idea to put the loud noise in the back and the horses in front.
I’ve also learned that one should ask about traditions in advance. At the local VA, the tradition is to have the Grand Marshall be the strongest person in hospist. Don’t want anyone to die in the middle of the parade, after all. The other unspoken part of that is that at the end of the parade, the girls will flash their teats at the Grand Marshall while the guys are grouped around to hide their girls from the cameras.
I didn’t know the first time, so I was wearing a back hooked bra. Very distressing, but I learned.
I don’t know how to answer this. I have never MARCHED in a parade, but a group of us rode our horses in a parade once, and it was a blast!
Marched in loads of parades in HS band. The Harley Owner’s Group I was in rode in a parade once. Do toy runs count as parades? I’ve done a couple of those.
I didn’t march in my first parade - I was on a float. 
I don’t recall the exact circumstances - I think it had something to do with my uncle and I think the theme was “It’s a Small World.” I was representing Hawaii - I wore a muu-muu and a plastic lei. Yeah, I looked the part - blonde, hazel-eyed descendent of eastern Europeans - I looked Hawaiian… :rolleyes: But what the heck - I was in a parade!
I was in 3 Mardi Gras parades in 1977 as part of a Navy honor guard. I carried the Navy flag. This was when the women’s dress uniform didn’t have slacks, so I had to march in a skirt. It was cold and it rained one day. It was boring and tiring and painful, since the flag belt was adjusted to hang too low. But I got to go to Mardi Gras, so there’s that.
Marched in parades as a member of the high school band, as a Boy Scout, as a member of a high school class Float committee. We marched twice in the New Year’s Parade at Boston’s First Night just because we were in the right place at the right time.
I haven’t (though I have been in a parade a couple of times), but my husband has a number of times. He’s in the FD Honour Guard.
Why are the only two choices “Love it” or “Hated it?”
I was in high school marching band. It was OK I guess. Mostly it was a chance for us kids to run free around the town we were going to be marching in as long as we were back in time for the parade.
High School. Marching Band. It sucked. Heavy wool, hot weather, and intermittent rain. I don’t even GO to parades since then. I hate 'em.
My first one was this year. OMFG what a fun party!
When I was in elementary school I was an active kid. I was in a horse club and a jazz club and both participated in our annual Santa Claus parade. The first year I was in dance only so it was easy, the second year I chose dance because all we were doing for the riding club was… riding. No banners, no candy just riding. Third year I rode and discovered how much warmer that was so I rode the 4th year too. After that I dropped both clubs and haven’t been in a parade since.
I marched in several India day parades when I was younger. We used to dance on the float. 'Twas fun.
I found I much prefer marching in the parade to watching it go by.
Twice in a civilian parade: once as a kid in the school band. Once as part of a military company that got “volunteered” for a local parade. Countless times in military ‘parades’ for changes of command ceremonies.
Yeah, as a kid both with the band and with JROTC. It was a blast.
My hometown had parades every year on Memorial Day and Labor Day - I marched in the Memorial Day parades with little league baseball teams and Boy Scouts, and in the Labor Day parades with football teams and scouts. It was exciting the first time… hot and boring on subsequent occasions.
You could even wear those rainbow shorts again!
Yes. I was in my high school marching band for a year. I also rollerbladed behind a Zamboni and threw out candy with my youth hockey program.
I was in marching band all through high school, and we had a minimum of three parades a year - a practice parade around the school’s neighborhood, the Battle of Flowers parade, and a parade in whatever spring contest we entered.
I liked the practice parade best because we were wearing regular practice clothes - shorts and t-shirts - and when we went through the neighborhood (usually after 9 a.m. on a school day), the stay-at-home parents brought their little kids out to watch. You could tell the parents were delighted, and the little kids thought it was the best thing ever.
Marching in the Battle of Flowers parade in San Antonio was a mixed bag. It’s held in April, so the weather was extremely changeable. One year, it was fine, but we were right behind the mounted police, so there was a lot of dodging horse poop. Another year, it was deadly hot, and several kids fainted. Band parents were running out with cold water and sprayers to cool us down. Another year, we marched in the middle of a thunderstorm. Our band director promised to sue if any of the tubas were struck by lightning. Our uniforms - heavy polyester with that traditional marching band look - ended up moldering after the parade and the city’s insurance replaced them. The last year, it happened to be very warm again, but our band director had created a secondary uniform for the band - giving us orders to go buy shorts in the secondary school colors, wearing our collared band shirt, and handing out visors. We also got to wear white sneakers and socks. It was awesome. Every other marching band there threw a hissy fit when they realized they could have done exactly the same thing.
Parade marching for contest in the spring was no biggie. Neither as awesome nor as awful as the other kind. There wasn’t an audience, so it was fairly meh.
I spent all 4 years of high school in JROTC. It was required that we march in all parades. I hated it. The required uniform was either not heavy or light enough for the weather. Hate being center of attention. Hated having to arrive 2 hours before the parade started even though our unit didn’t start marching until the very end. I refused to march in any more Columbus or Memorial parades after suffering heat exhaustion at one. I got mild hypothermia at a St. Patrick’s Day parade but it was my final parade of my senior year so I didn’t have to flip a nutty on anyone to get out of any more.
I will not voluntarily seek out parades. I’ve seen them at Disney and the Big E because they just kind of happen with no warning but that is it.
A few times, I helped march the big balloons down the street at Austin’s Thanksgiving Parade. I’m not dying to do it again, but it was a lot of fun when I did it.