Especially a small town parade!

 

Now, Dear Reader, some of you may be sophisticated and may have attended the Rose Parade or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  There you would have seen wonderful floats, covered with flowers–real flowers, and giant balloons and fabulously turned out bands and drill teams.  But let me tell you, you ain’t seen nothin’ until you’ve seen a small town parade!  And my town, Long Beach, Washington, knows how to throw a parade!  This year was our 59th Loyalty Day Parade.  

Our Grand Marshall this year was Abraham Lincoln!  It’s his 200th birthday this year.  Here he is in the reviewing stand with my dad.

Every convertible in town is pressed into service so the local dignitaries and politicians can be seen by the admiring crowds.  The yellow Cadillac belongs to my dad.

Of course we have mounted units and rodeo queens

Heck, we even have llamas!

And tractors.  I ask you, does the Rose Parade have tractors!?!

I do love the drill teams.  The girls work so hard to keep in step, and boy can they stomp!  I’d think they’d all have shin splints!

Of course Loyalty Day has it’s own royalty–the Loyalty Days Ambassadors.  This is what we call a float.  By the way, is that ambassador wearing a camo dress!

If you lived in Winlock, Washington, you could be part of the Egg Royalty and ride in an egg float everywhere you go.

I don’t know where these girls were from, but they had the most float-like float in the parade.  And I love the border print dresses!

Every parade needs clowns, and we have lots of those.

This guys not just another pretty face!

We have vintage cars.

And Volkswagon “Things,”

More floats.  The Scandinavian Royalty from Astoria.

Newfoundland Dogs get their own float.

The Chinook Tribe was in a float with a boat–a Chinookan Canoe.

And we have balloons.

But my favorite is the shopping cart drill team!