A few years ago when my dear friend found out I had no plans for the morning hours on the 4th of July she invited me over to her friends' house to participate in a neighborhood parade. I'd never seen such a thing before. The entire street came out on their lawns. Quick shades were popped open, sprinklers were cooling the kids off, and there was enough watermelon and flavored slushies to feed an army.
Then the "floats" started to show up. Bikes, scooters, wagons and strollers had been decorated with streamers, balloons, ribbons and flags. Families were dressed head to toe in red white and blue. There was even one 10yr old boy dressed up like Uncle Sam. I was watching the sights in amazement when the MC (the "host house" in the center of the street had a sound system hooked up) announced it was time to start.
We all headed down to the end of the street and lined up. The MC started playing a soundtrack of patriotic music and that was our cue to start parading up the street. As we passed the MC he announced people by name, made fun comments about the decorations, and just made everyone smile. It really was the best Independence Day celebration I've ever been too.
Today we did a smaller version of this parade. We met some friends at a nearby park, one I choose because it has a nice circular path. The kids brought their scooters and had a whole lot of fun decorating them with streamers and balloons. I wanted to get those little flags to attach on them but Target was all sold out... I need to plan ahead better for next year. Then they "paraded" around the park. My son thought the streamers made him go extra fast because of how they blew in the wind. This logic made me smile.
The plan is to take these tricked out scooters to the city parade tomorrow morning. Since we have to park a few blocks away and then walk to the parade route the kids can ride their festive scooters and be involved in the fun even more. I would definitely like to do this again next year. Maybe we'll even add a few more elements and go a little bigger.
Great idea! It reminds me of the Bend, Oregon pet parade where half the town is in the parade and the other half watches. They dress up thier, dogs, ducks, horses, and lamas and then the kids ride thier bikes down the parade all dressed up too. What fun!
ReplyDelete