Parade!

Yesterday while having lunch at The Lotus Kitchen, an announcement was made.  "They're getting ready to shut down the traffic on the Island for the parade." A Parade? 

 

It turns out that in conjunction with the Patuxent River Appreciation Days (PRAD) held at the Calvert Marine Museum, there is a parade.  This is not like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, or the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.  This is not the Rose Bowl Parade with elegant floats.  This is the epitome of Small Town USA kind of a Parade.   This is maybe a small notch above Mayberry.

I think for the most part the photos will tell most of the story here, but let me say a few things up front.  This is a parade where there very well may be as many IN the parade as were watching - at least near the beginning of the route where I stood.  There were some dignitaries.  Bernie Fowler, former Maryland State Senator and activist for the cleanup of the Patuxent River Watershed was the lead.  I'll call him the Grand Marshall - though I'm not sure if that's a real title for this parade. It was ironic to see Mr. Fowler as I had just met his son, Bernie Fowler Jr. that morning.. but that's another story.  Mrs. World rode in an Corvette convertible to tout the contest (Mrs. World) that is coming to Solomons next month.  Yet the best part of the parade was truly the "localness" of it..  yeah, I'm not sure that's a real word, but that's how I'm viewing it.

The parade was full of Scouts - boys and girls, ROTC squads from several High Schools, the Patuxent High Marching Band, some cheerleaders, and we cannot forget the Shriners and Knights of Columbus.  So, lets get to the photos.

 

 The Color Guard opened the parade.  The Guard was made up of men from several local Posts of the VFW.  You can see Mr. Fowler in the car behind them.

The Knights of Columbus came out in their finery.  I really don't understand what they do, but they have some very cool uniforms.. Are they called uniforms?












The guy to the left was particularly enthusiastic.  And like my other posts on Solomons... what do you see... happy, smiling people!

 The young boy has a 'gun' that shoots bubbles; if you look close you can see one.

 There were several Scout Packs out.

This little one, saw me taking photos, and I got a nice smirky smile and wave.

I'm wondering if anyone knows what troop was riding on the Mission Bar-b-Que Truck shown below? This young guy was the 'ham.'

His buddy to his right gets a close up:

Did you know there's a Babywearing International association?

Again, a very happy group.

There were a lot of J.R.O.T.C.  organizations at the parade.  These young folk were looking good, marching well, but as we all know, Drill Sergeants look for the details.

There were two teams that were getting some... coaching as they marched.

I won't point them out specifically, but the dialogues was something like this:

McDonough H.S.  Promfret, MD

Advisor: "We don't swing from the elbow, we swing our arms!"
Silence: for a few seconds.
Advisor: "We swing our arms, not our elbows... will someone fix his arm... swing the arm... will someone fix that before I break it....  OKAY, that's better... let's go"

Another was similar on another Team..
Advisor: "Use the whole street... spread out"
Team:  *adjusts positions*
Other Advisor:  "Check your spacing... hold out your arms.. how close are you....  straight lines.."

It was fun to whatch and hear, and truthfully, most of the Teams looked quite sharp.




















Looks like the Navy is in good shape too. I couldn't tell what school this was.  Leonard Hall?

 These young woman had style and snap in their marching.  They were wonderful to watch.






The band played..

 Precision.

 The United Way took on a Mardi Gras theme.
FUN.

 Again, couldn't quite figure out who this group is.

 Now, the Shriners... LOTS of them... including a mascot.  I'll call him Fezz.

Does anyone know what the BOUMI TEMPLE is?  Well Google and you shall receive.  Boumi is the arabic word for Owl.. and that's apparently one of the symbols for the Shriners..  The main fame comes from their support of childrens hospitals.

  


 This was inspiring...  if there's a will there's a way.. Segway!





 The Shriners have all the transportation.  Segway...check.
Golf Cart... check.   Motorcycles.. check.  Three wheelers...check.  A float... check.  Flying carpets (sort of)... check.  Big Rigs..(sort of)... check!



































 A lovely older lady approached me at the end of the parade asking if I had gotten pictures of the parade.

She was specifically interested in the Shriners float.  She had wanted to get a picture of her husband but the camera had turned off.

I'm hoping Thelma may will see this, and maybe Mr. Bouchard is one of the three gents you can see.  I was not able to get the fourth gentleman that was on the other side.

 Did I mention there were clowns as well?  I kind of like clowns, but if you really think about it.. they're a bit creepy.. don't you think?







































































 And you definitely need to showcase the local Fire and EMS crew.  A parade needs some big equipment to show off..  The red and black color scheme is beautiful too.

 


 Some other dignitaries brought up the end of the parade.

Not sure who this is... maybe Home Coming Queen?

And I guess the Yacht Club has a Queen too.



















 And then Mrs. World!

 The parade closed out with some of the politicians, but I'm not throwing that powder keg in here.


The crowd dispersed, and the only thing left was a bit of a traffic jam.


 

 Till next time,

 Blessings,
Brian