One of the highlights of the 4th of July for the kids is the Annual Watertown parade, one of the best small-town parades I have ever seen. It lasts over two hours and the kids come home with lots of goodies. Oh, and the floats are pretty cool, too! We have such a fun town with great hometown pride and a comraderie that can't be beat! And you know you're in the right place when the Republican candidates can bravely walk down the street with no body guards and get lots of cheering from the crowd :)
Rob staked out our spot on Main Street yesterday afternoon. Yes, you heard right, yesterday. If you want a spot on the curb, you have to get your seats out a day early. We have a double captain's chair that we set out and the kids just sit on the curb. They're up half the time grabbing candy off the street anyway, so they don't need a real place to sit. He checked on our seats last night when he took the boys to watch the fireworks and they had been shoved down a bit, but were still on the curb. Oh, and he found us a spot only one block away!
The parade floats line up on our street and it's always fun to see who is out there each year. This year we had old orange tractors, the German Days float from Jefferson complete with blaring loud polka music (not complaining...it could have been the Elvis impersonator or the off-key rock band) and the Jefferson County Fair float sporting a plastic cow and the Fairest of the Fair. Anna thought the girl was a real, live princess because she had a tiara on her head. The kids spent most of the morning dancing on the porch to the polka music and talking to some of the parade walkers. When the "princess" went by on the fair float, she recognized Anna and gave her a special wave, which made Anna's day :)
We got down to our spot with plenty of time to spare, armed with water bottles and snacks and slathered up with sunscreen. Or at least the kids and Rob were. I neglected a few key areas, so I'm a little crispy right now. We did end up leaving a bit early because I couldn't take it anymore in the direct sunlight. Rob didn't want to stay for the whole thing anyway, so it worked out. And the boys are pretty tired from staying up late to watch fireworks.
Highlights from this year's parade: The stilt walkers whom Anna thought looked like fairies, all of the "princesses" from the various festivals and fairs, the Shiner cars (love those things!), the camels, the unruly horse, the boys running out to grab hot dogs from the float cooking them and giving them away, loads of candy thrown out, and our church float done with the teens. They focused on "Teens Serve" and had "statues" of teenagers from the past who have served our country. It was very well done and if they don't win a prize, I will be surprised!
The highlight for Matthew would be getting a fishing pole. One of the local clubs was throwing out balls and if the person who caught it threw it back, they got a free fishing pole. The gentleman singled out Matthew and pretty much gave him the ball. I thought Matthew's eyes would fall out of their sockets! He can't wait to go fishing with Daddy.
We really do have a fabulous parade here in town. Feel free to come join us next year! But bring your chairs a day early or you have to sit behind us :)
1 comment:
So fun! I wanted to do our town parade, but it didn't start until 6 p.m. on the 4th. And unfortunately, a thunderstorm rolled in at about 5:45! We would have had to walk quite a ways and would have gotten soaked...so as it was, it's a good thing we didn't go. But I'd love to take the kids to a smalltown patriotic parade someday. We used to love them in Mountain Home, Idaho!
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