Friday, December 9, 2011

holiday parade


I live in a small town now, less than 10,000 people, so small town entertainment is what I have available to me. I'm OK with that since I didn't avail myself of the city entertainment when I lived there. Always too much traffic, too many people, too much money.

This year I went to the christmas parade around the square which they held the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. It was my first time to go and I went with my sister. She's been living here longer than me and has even been in the christmas parade back when she and her husband were part of the farmer's market, back when he was still alive.

Anyway.

I remember when my kids were little. My best friend lived down at the other end of the block and she had two boys that roughly equaled the ages of my girl and boy so we spent a lot of time together and every Thanksgiving, we would get up early and bundle up the kids and take them downtown to see the Thanksgiving Day parade. I guess we did that about four years in a row until the kids stopped wanting to go. I knew a back way in to town and where to park so the walk was relatively short. Houston always had their Thanksgiving parade in the morning and it was always windy and cold downtown.

Anyway.

It was windy and cold here too so all my pictures are out of focus. All of them. I blame it on the fact that everything was moving when I snapped the pictures except the things that weren't. Even the things that were stopped in front of me, the pictures are out of focus. I think the wind was blowing the lights around or I was shivering, one or the other or maybe both.

Along with the parade there was (I hesitate to call it) a craft fair. Maybe a dozen or more vendors offering 'goods' and some other food vendors and a couple of guys walking around with those chemically colored light sticks of different shapes and sizes. The square was all decked out in its lights. But it was night and most people didn't have lighting. So all my pictures are dark as well as out of focus.

We sat on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Miss Hattie's which was about two steps higher than the street.

If you have ever wondered what a small town christmas parade is like, I can tell you. It's truck after truck with it's goose neck trailer and semi after semi with it's flat bed trailer filled with hay bales and kids and christmas lights and fire engines from every little town in the vicinity. Come along with me and see some of the over 70 entrants. I'm surprised there was anybody left to watch it.

approaching the square

vendors

the courthouse square

light wands and cotton candy


the first of many fire engines





a few angels

drummers drumming

some christmas cheer

teens with bikes with lights


a boat...wait, a boat?


kids on horses (can't very well have a parade in the country without kids on horses)

this was my favorite though

those blurry lights resolved into this when it stopped

pageant royalty


finally Santa in the back of the fire department pick up truck

and I hope you enjoyed the parade.





16 comments:

  1. This looks like so much fun. I love watching people enjoying themselves and this was fun. THanks for sharing. Oma Linda

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  2. What a grand parade for such a small town! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Sounds exactly like our town parade [tomorrow night! woohoo!] Thanks for sharing and putting me even more in the mood. Love the pics. :)

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  4. your description of the small-town parade made me LOL! :)

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  5. I have seen parades not unlike this in places from Florida to Switzerland to Mexico. They are just about perfect in some dear-hearted way.

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  6. Yes I did enjoy this parade...and I did not have to sit out in the cold...

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  7. You won't be surprised to hear that I love these pictures. Your fave is my fave as well. Cool!

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  8. I'm surprised there was anybody left to watch !!
    that made me howl
    I could hear you saying it

    I love the angels

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  9. This really does look like a great parade and better than the more artificial ones in the cities.
    If you think your town is small, you should see my town with pickup trucks for floats. At least they have one. We have maybe 2000 population.
    Sounds kind of like a taunt doesn't it?
    My town is smaller than your town. Ha.

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  10. A wonderful parade...I have not gone to one in years.

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  11. I always thought I would end up in a small town somewhere. It was fun to visit via your blog.

    First time visitor. I followed a comment you made on Jeff's blog as I connected with what you had to say. Aloha.

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  12. yes I did, very much so. Your little town did you proud.

    A lot o hard work and enthusiasm went into this parade.Some of your blurry pictures actually make it more atmospheric than a sharp one would have done.

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  13. The blurriness in some of these is really cool-looking. We live in a smallish town too (50,000-so much bigger than yours) and I have never gone to the Christmas parade. Maybe next year.

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  14. The very phrase "courthouse square" evokes my home town. We had a Christmas parade, too, although I don't remember much about it. I always was more interested in the fancy window displays the stores put up.

    Our courthouse was - and is - something, though. Thirty miles east of Des Moines, we were under a lot of airline flight paths. There are so many lights pilots take a little jog on their way to Chicago or wherever to let people see them. We're very proud.

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  15. I think the parade looks wonderful!!
    What fun!!
    Hugging you
    SueAnn

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  16. I've never really "gotten" parades - I was never in any & didn't know anyone in any - they always seemed like a sad effort to work really hard to celebrate something. I was a little cynic. But I like this one - and the best part is I didn't have to stand in the cold to enjoy it!

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