Gotta love a small town parade!
It's early Tuesday morning, the day after the big Labor Day weekend. My company is gone, and my house is sooooooo quiet!
The little town of Advance springs to life on Labor Day weekend, looking like it used to years ago in more prosperous times. The streets are full of traffic of every variety imaginable, including teams of tiny horses, wagons, riders on horseback, and kids on four-wheelers. Sturdivant Street is once more the main thoroughfare, as people line the street to wait for the Big Parade.
Everything with wheels or legs is rounded up and put into the annual Labor Day Parade - police and fire vehicles, tractors, 4-wheelers, horses, dogs dressed in costumes, and the high school band.
A parade in a small town is a friendly affair, as children scramble for candy, local politicians walk the route, shaking hands, and festive floats file past, populated with folks waving and shouting to friends in the crowd.
Various members of my family usually come to join me in watching the festivities. My sister Kathy came from Springfield. My 3-year-old grandson Evan was big enough this year to join in the candy scramble, with his daddy warning him - "See that line, Evan? Don't go past it!"
Evan was so excited that he jumped up and down and screeched, "MiMi, MiMi! It's coming! It's coming!" as the Chief of Police led the procession with lights flashing.
There's an innocence and simplicity about a small town parade. It celebrates life. Family members living in far distant places return home to their roots on Fair Day. It's Homecoming and acknowledgement that we made it through another year.
As the horses and riders file past, marking the end, folks begin to gather up their lawn chairs and head down to the park, where a traveling carnival has set up rides for the kids, and the stage is ready for the beauty pageants.
My son Matthew and his lovely wife Laura (expecting their second child next month) walked with me to the park, I holding Evan's hand as he jabbered excitedly. They thought the parade was a bit longer than the one they saw the day before in Benton, but they're all about the same. Bell City's will be next weekend, and the others will follow soon.
It's a happy time, as we celebrate the end of summer, the harvest time, and the fellowship of family and friends.
From the friendly hills of suburban Tillman, Mo., this is your very happy rural reporter Madeline, signing off on another glorious summer morning.
Comments
Respond to this blog
Posting a comment requires free registration:
- If you already have an account, follow this link to login
- Otherwise, follow this link to register
I've seen some pretty crazy things on Highway 60, but Batman definitely gets the Grand Prize! On one trip, I saw a guy roller blading in those hills around Van Buren. I've kicked myself ever since for not stopping and getting his story.
Can you imagine five people car pooling ANYWHERE today?
Thanks for the memory, Judy! I'd love to see those photos!
I like to see the ingenuity of the participants, in coming up with something to show off. One year I took a picture of an antique manure spreader that someone pulled behind an antique tractor! No kidding! I had to ask an older man in the crowd what it was!
I was pleased to see the effort and creativity in some of the floats. It's so cute that the Nursing Home float won first place! It was decked out to look like a ship, sailing through tropical waters! The activity director even bought a small bubble machine to put on back! The residents could hardly wait to get on board. They finally let one lady climb on, and she sat there for 45 minutes before they moved out to join the parade!
I may just be tempted to post those pictures on my blog. Haha! It looks like "Happy Days" all over again! We look like Laverne & Shirley...
Stay tuned!