A parade looks different from the inside. I found that out today when I marched in the Wilson Christmas parade, held five days before Thanksgiving! I had not watched a Wilson Christmas parade (or any other variety) in several years and have never been a huge fan of parades. The last time I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade or the Rose Bowl parade on TV, I was probably too young to vote. When I lived a block from the Wilson parade route, I would usually walk down the street to see what the excitement was all about. One of my children appeared in the parade one year.
This year, I took part in the parade for the first time. Walking with other American Red Cross staff and volunteers, I marched along and waved, as if I were a beauty queen or a politician. The parade went quickly. I scanned the crowd for familiar faces and saw a few, including my 2-year-old grandson sitting on his dad's shoulders.
Being in the parade, I concluded, is more exciting than watching one. I saw more people I know, waved to them and heard my name called once or twice. And walking a mile or so sure beats standing around for hours. I'll be ready to do it again next year.
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2 comments:
You went by so quickly I didn't realize it was you or have a chance to wave to you. Today's parade was the first I've attended since I was a child and the first one of any kind I've attended with my son. I have to say it was a lot of fun but a lot of that came from the Shriners and their vehicles and antics.
The Wilson part of the parade was predictably boring. It's too bad more effort wasn't put into the floats or even the attire of the participants. I don't see the attraction of people sitting in their everyday clothes, halfheartedly waving from the back of a flatbed truck sponsored by their church or place of business. I liked the Sallie B. Howard float, which looked like a real Christmas float, but most of the other ones were pretty lame.
Also, I appreciated that Hunt, Fike and Beddingfield had their bands there but couldn't there have been a few more? After all, marching bands really make a parade.
Finally, as my 2-year-old son kept asking, "Where are the elephants?"
The Wilson Christmas Parade, for as long as I watched them, had some difficulty sticking to a Christmas theme. Eighteen-wheelers dominated a number of years ago. Thank goodness that has been curtailed. One year that I remember, a church's entry portrayed a bloody crucifixion scene. Wrong holiday? All parade entries are supposed to have a Christmas motif, but that doesn't seem to be very strictly enforced. The Shriner vehicles have been a crowd favorite, so I was pleased to see so many here (I understand they're in great demand for parades). And there were quite a few horse units with beautiful animals in the parade. But no elephants. Sorry, Bennett.
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