I... love a parade!

When I was growing up, I didn't go see too many parades. And I keep wondering why. When I was married, in another lifetime, I traveled to Gunnison Colorado and saw the Fourth of July parade there, three different years. And I fell in love with small town USA. With a population around 5500.... well, you get the picture! Everyone knows everyone. And if you're new in town, everyone talks to you :) That was also the place where I went to my first Walmart. but I digress.

When I moved to Hamilton, Ohio, I saw plenty of parades. Another small town and the county seat, so there were plenty of reasons to have a parade. Or plenty of parades to have because people get bored? lol However, one of the neatest things there was being IN the parades! Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts troops were in most of the parades. I never dreamed I would be in a parade, but I was. Depending on the reason for the parade, we'd march from the Jr High to downtown. Or, from downtown to the cemetery. (After my first parade, I had the "princess wave" down pat! lol) Then there was the homecoming parades when my kids were in high school. Watching my boys carry color guard with NJROTC can make a mom get teary-eyed!

Today, I saw my first parade in Arizona: Chandler's 22nd annual Ostrich Festival Parade. (the link to my parade pix is here). After the color guard passed, there was the usual parade of mayor and politicos, and all the local queens (Miss Gilbert, Miss East Valley... you get the idea). So many townspeople lined up along Arizona Avenue, one of the major thoroughfares in Chandler! I ended up forgetting to toss extra batteries in my pocket for the camera (wouldn't you know it, I was 3/4 of the way through the parade when I realized my batteries were running low!) but I managed to eke out enough to get pictures of the fav entries.

Is there a point to this blog? Nope, not this time.
Other than watching a parade can be a fun thing
on a gorgeous Saturday morning.
And watching the people is not a bad thing either :)

Parade-watching HUGS to everyone!