DocAndersen
When we lived in Indiana July 4th was a party at my folk’s house. We would wander down from Greenwood; my sister would also wander down from Greenwood. My little sister (who is much younger than me) still lives in Monore Country where Bloomington is. We would all drive down, and then head out to watch the 4th of July parade. Then it was back to mom and dad’s house for burgers, brats and other 4th of July traditions. Now, it is a bit of a drive to get there, but the memories are still there. We would head to my sister’s office in town and sitting on the curb, watching the parade roll by. The parade was always about the city of Bloomington and the university.
It was a majestic display of fire trucks and marching bands. There was always a float with surviving veterans from various wars. WWII, Korea, and Vietnam Veterans celebrated as they rode by. There were also various organizations that would walk by. Politicians would also walk by shaking hands with people. I remember my dad not shaking hands of GOP candidates as they walked by. Dad was a liberal his whole life! We would watch as the kids dived for candy. One of the parts of the parade for some reason I never understood, was throwing candy to the crowd. They would throw tootsie rolls, which made sense, but they would also throw hard dandy.
The Hard candy would shatter and open, but the Tootsie rolls were soft and survived. The other things were bubble gum. That ended up being a problem on the way home, with ten pieces fo bubble gum in twins mouths. But the Bubble gum usually went into the ag that they gave out early in the parade. I used to wonder about that, who thought of giving out bags. And then, did organizers think about the impact of pockets full of candy and put the bag providers at the beginning of the parade? The mini-flash providers were early in the parade on purpose. They would have out the mini-flags so they could be waved for the veterans. All, in a magical day sometimes raining, sometimes hot. But always fun with the family!
Looks like a good time to me. Wish I had been there.
he was just learning how to use a digital camera.
Nice scenic view……………..
i think this is somewhere in Italy.