One of my favorite things...

Is there anything better than a parade?

Seriously.
Is there anything better?

I adore parades...the excitement in the air...the sound of the drums drawing nearer in the distance...beauty queens in convertibles ...candy flying...music...and happy people everywhere.

I just love parades.

Saturday morning we headed to the square for the County Fair Parade.

The first thing we spotted was the token wiener dog.
Every parade has one.

This one had a magnificent arch.

One of the highlights was the matching father/son overalls..

.

I imagined the father whispering...
"You see that beauty queen sitting on the back of that there sports car?
Don't mind the likes of her one bit.
You find yourself a good woman like your mama.
You need someone who can make some good vittles...
and that girl aint seen vittles in a loooong time."

It made me happy to see them in their outfits together. It was so cute.

Every parade comes equipped with a grumpy Shriner....

...and a stud Shriner.

Another common sighting at a curb sitting parade is "coin slots".
This time I spotted a half-dollar slot!!! Bonus!

The climax of my morning was making eye contact with the "conductor" of the band.
(What is the real name for that, anyway?)
I made eye contact with him and we were having a stare off.
I pulled out the camera and he got nervous...but still couldn't look away.

I finally won the stare down when I made him twitch.

I think he thought I was stalking him...but in truth I was only admiring his ability to walk backwards the entire length of the parade.

How do they do it???

My favorite part of any parade is watching the excitement/concern on my kid's faces.

The best part of any parade is laughing with Tom.

Laughter is one thing our marriage has never lacked.

After the parade we perused the farmers market on the square.

I walked away with jam, salsa, zucchini, and butternut squash.

The kids scored snow cones...rainbow...not organic.

I was tempted to pay this lady for a massage...



Until I noticed she was doing "husband massage"...you know that kind...
where he rubs you in one spot until a vertebrae is exposed or a commercial comes on...whichever happens first.

We also saw the characters of Beauty and the Beast...a local play that is showing.
This guy was my favorite.



He had a "quiet dignity" about him.

We then headed home to enjoy the rest of our Saturday...bags of produce in hand... and smiles hidden behind the snow cones.

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