Saturday, June 18, 2011

Parade!

As soon as I woke up this morning a list of things to do started running through my head. Get the coffee, pack the noise makers, check if the bubble machines work... Today was parade day.

There was a lot of last minute rushing around this morning – and last night there’d been a late trip to Walmart to exchange a broken bubble machine – but with help from V and a great co-organizer, we had everything ready before 10.

V was at our destination park, waiting with coffee, lemonade and baked goods for a bake sale. M and I headed off to the starting point. The weather was perfect – couldn’t have asked for a better day.

M and I met a couple of families on the way over, which gave me hope that we would not be the only ones to show up. A reporter from the local community paper was waiting when we arrived. She asked me how many I expected and I said honestly that I had no idea. At this point we were about 10 and I was worried that might be all.

But I shouldn’t have worried. We have such a great community and word of the parade had gone viral on several different networks – and by word of mouth. There were probably 60 or more people who turned out – young and old.

Two guys from a local band led the parade – setting a great marching rhythm on various drums. People had been encouraged to dress fun and bring noise makers – so there were whistles, rattles, kazoos, cow bells, recorders... a great sound. There were also the requisite girls dressed as princesses and fairies and boys in super hero costume. M and I went with a beach theme and she wore a giant straw hat and a purple lei.

We got the park and our little bake sale was swarmed by hungry kids. Many people gave above the suggested price and we managed to raise $200 for the community’s OMB appeal.

What a fun morning. Love this community.

p.s. I hope to be able to add some pictures from friends to this blog soon. Here’s a link to a video someone made.

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