Hometown Celebration on July Fourth

As with most July Fourth parades, the fire engines come near the beginning of the parade - the politicians paraded first then the fire engines. We always wondered what would happen if there was a call to the firehouse while the engines were out on the parade and today, we found out. The big truck that was driving ahead of this one suddenly peeled off and the parade got stopped while it retraced it's direction to get out onto the road.

But this is a small town parade at heart. There are almost as many people in the parade as watching it. The kids particularly have a grand time participating and you can see there is quite the initiative to decorate your ride as well as to dress for the occasion. The moms and dads and grandparents are co-opted to walk alongside for those inevitable meltdown moments. There's always a lot of candy thrown in this parade and for the little ones on their bikes it is awfully hard to resist the temptation to stop and scoop up the candy.

And we don't forget our roots. You can guarantee to see some tractors on parade and if you have a red one, well, it just has to be decorated of course.

This was probably one of my favorite entries in the parade today. That dog looked so proud.

Every parade needs an audience. It is a popular event to bring your dog along to.

This horse looked like it wished to be the star. While the other horses walked calmly in the heat this proud beauty fairly pranced along.

After the parade everyone disperses quite quickly. We saw this young boy who appeared to be auditioning for when he is old enough to be in the parade among those walking their dogs.

It was a grand day for the parade in our hometown.