I didn’t know what to expect from our small town Fourth of July parade as the decision to hold it was made only about a month ago. I thought maybe a couple of special interests groups would get it together. I certainly didn’t expect almost a dozen musical groups, some marching and the others on the back of flatbed trucks! I guess they all couldn’t wait to get out and celebrate. The town council requested everyone wear a mask and socially distance but guess what folks? That did not happen.
It began with the Fire Department.
And then came the Bagpipes
This shot makes it look like the little girl has a tail!
And the football team.
Here are a few other snaps. Wish I could post videos of the music but good old WordPress is giving me fits today.
To all my friends in the US … Happy Fourth!
Saying nothing in particular 
Of course nb wore a mask. Why doesn’t that surprise me.
That girl with a tail make me laugh.
When I took the picture I was focused on the bagpipers! There were so many families crowded along the route it was hard to get pictures of the actual parade! I must admit I loved seeing all the kids and the dogs.
I can see that.
Bagpipes and a fine parade! My wife and I went to a fireworks show last night. It was a good one.
It was amazing considering the short time the organizers had.
I haven’t been to a parade like this one in years. Even before the pandemic. I also haven’t heard bagpipes live in years either. Funny how those two things go together.
We only live a couple of blocks from the start of the parade route. I think if I had to drive to it and try to park it might be a different story.
Hi Jan,
July the 4th caught me reading different books, articles. A lot of eyewitness accounts of Europe in the 1930s. Here are some ideas that came to me yesterday: Blatant lies build disctatorships, half-truths are the heartbeats of democracies. The former can get you killed, the latter elected. And this from Sophie Scholl: “At it’s very inception this movement depended on the deception and betrayal of one’s fellow man; even at that time it was inwardly corrupt and could support itself only by constant lies.” This is from one of her “leaflets of resistance” to Hitler, for which she was beheaded at 21 years of age, but the words also apply to Trump and his sycophants. Then on July 4th, I read about how Donald Rumsfeld ignored history in making decisions. How he rushed the US into the Iraq War. He didn’t understand “conditions on the ground”. As he famously said, “stuff happens”. indeed. Neither did the chief administrator in Bagdad, Jerry Bremer. He decided it would be a good idea to prevent the Bathists from helping maintain order in the country through appointments as administrators, police, and national guard. This started a chain of events which unleashed Islamic militants and the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqui and Afghan civilians and trillions in American tresure. Al-Qaeda was very bad, but what came after was worse. Whoever decided to use July 4th as the pullout date in Afganistan is an idiot. I will wager that the Taliban will be in power within the next two months which will produce another bloodbath and our enemies will say, here is America’s independence day gift to Afghanistan. Of course, none of this is the fault of America, we have only expidited the inevitable process through our bungling. It is hard for me to fault Amrican foregin policy in the Middle East, except for one missing ingredeant in almost every US administration since the mid-1980s. We failed to allow for local solutions to local political/military problems. General Patraeus had that one right. We too often thought we could affect countries favorably through the use of our national force. We destroyed the village in order to save it. Rumsfeld should have listened to the occasional racist, Rudyard Kipling:
When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier
No, it won’t be the US soldiers in this case (they have already paid), but rather the Afghans who supported us during the occupation and war. Mostly the women. Sorry, I could not help but think of these things on July 4th and then came your post. Bummer of a comment, but hey, it’s just me, the last man on Earth, trying to raise someone on a shortwave radio. I feel like your pal, Vincent Price. Thanks. Duke
There’s a lot of worry about Afghanistan and I sure hope we do a better job of pulling out than we did in Vietnam. For what I’ve heard they’ve got about seven thousand people to try to save. Our parade is more like an excuse for everyone to take to the streets and show off their kids and dogs. There were plenty of special interests groups – Save the Creeks, Support the Library, Strengthen Gun Laws but no politics or military this year.
“At it’s very inception this movement depended on the deception and betrayal of one’s fellow man; even at that time it was inwardly corrupt and could support itself only by constant lies.” That reads like a perfect description of the Biden Admin. Wow. Every day, he looks more and more like Jeff Dunham’s “Walter”, with less charm.
I wonder who writes his little “notes” for him when he can’t make heads or tails out of the teleprompter. “Circle Back” Ptsaki, maybe???
It’s good for folks to get out…and celebrate…something.
Great phots hope your was brilliant. Here are some more bagpipes for you.
Cool! Thanks!
💜💜