Parades

With summer practically here it is time for parade season. However, sometimes planning on marching in one of those parades can be a bit stressful too.

My partner tried to gather interest in marching in the Hazel Dell Parade of Bands this year for our church, however with only us, the pastor and his wife as the marchers and the pick-up bed “float” plan out too, we decided last night after waiting half-an-hour for anyone to show up for the poster decorating and to organize banner holders, to forgo this year and try to plan better next year. Of course with a theme like Pirates Treasure like they had this year for the floats, it was too bad we couldn’t make this happen. After all, our church is shaped kind of like a ship to begin with and we could have had a lot of fun with the pirate theme. But alas, it apparently was not meant to be.

As negative as the previous paragraph sounds, I’m really quite relieved we cancelled our march in the parade. It takes a lot to get people to march and if you plan on decorating a float too there are a ton of other issues to consider. I’m sure if we decide to try again next year, our planning committee will need to be started months in advance, and hopefully gather more interest from the congregation to participate. Hmmm… I’m on the Communications Committee next year, I wonder if this would fall into that category?

Even though our church will not be marching, we still plan on watching the parade this morning anyway. The weather will be perfect and we know a few people who will be performing in their school’s marching bands.

Of course, with this really just the beginning of the parade season, there are plenty of chances to take your family out to see one. In the month of June during the Portland Rose Festival you can choose from a multitude of parades, as well as the Portland Pride Parade. And of course the Ridgefield 4th of July Parade and Battle Ground’s Harvest Days Grand Parade in July.

I don’t know why, but parades always bring back a sense of times past. Nostalgia from simpler days and makes me feel like a kid again, even though we didn’t really go to many parades while I was growing up, except, of course, the ones I was in while in band in middle school with those ill-fitting marching band uniforms that were quite cumbersome and made playing the saxophone difficult. Or maybe that was my excuse because I sucked at it. Oh well, it is time to get ready and head down to Hazel Dell to find a spot to watch the parade and if I see a kid on the saxophone struggling, I’ll cheer the loudest for him or her.