where are the flags?
WOW! A Saturday off is ALWAYS nice!!! One in which there is plenty to do is even better! This weekend is our annual hometown fest known as the Festival of Flags (how the name switched from One River Festival as it was known for about 3 years when I was in high school is beyond me). The name has always escaped me. In all the years the fest has been named such, I see very few flags aside from the ones adorning our main street. Yesterday, was the big parade going south on North Michigan Avenue which is great since we have prime seats right outside our front door. I am pleased to say that this year’s parade was not the 20 minute ho-hum of the past. It lasted nearly an hour. Of course, there was the fire, rescue, and police units from the area, the pageant contestants, and several entries from E-town businesses, churches, etc. There used to be a parade of pets that was on a separate day but it seems to have been integrated with the main event as there were several adorable pooches being lead on the route. One new entry was the Frank Talk convertible. Frank Talk is a weekly tri-state paper which is written mainly by members of the Frank family from the chief editor all the way down to the young grandkids who are able to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard whichever the case may be.
I always am interested to see and hear the high school band. Once again, the group is under the leadership of a new director. The position seems to be yet another swinging door. I can’t tell you how many directors it has gone through in the past 17 years, but it is quite a few. Too many start out here fresh and discover better opportunities elsewhere which leads to the band’s suffering. Of course, many times you are happy to see the leader vacate… like the one from last year…. EEK! Definitely could find better. I thought the twenty member band did quite well. I wonder where Edon’s band was. In my day, we always played each other’s parade. Possibly because the directors were such good friends
My favorite part had to be the ADULT kids at the curb scavenging for candy. Christi was out there gatering goodies for her two girls who will be returning from a visit to their father’s (don’t ask… don’t tell) relatives. Chad got up a few times to run out (WHAT A SIGHT!) Cousin Kim was also there to watch and she made her way to the street from time to time. Honestly, this might have been my favorite part of the parade. Much like the adult Easter Egg Hunt. I sat back and watched so that my chair did not get stolen.
Actually a very enjoyable event compared with parades of the past.
I LOVE parades and am lucky enough to live in a town where there are two really great annual parades, one in the summer and one in the winter, both have a really nice hometown feel. I’ve read Frank Talk since we moved to the area 6 years ago and have watched the family change and evolve. It’s been interesting!
Parades are great! I forgot to mention the roving pot-a-potty that travelled the route and would fire streams of water periodically. Just watch out for planes 😀