It's a Parade!

Every year our community hosts its annual Kettle Moraine Days.  They've been doing it for a while - this was the 50th year.  It's a small-town festival with food to buy and eat, carnival rides & games, beer & bands, fireworks, and a parade.  The parade is always pretty good, and we go every year - well, at least every year since we've lived here, except the first summer when we didn't know anything about it, and we wondered why it was practically impossible to get out of town.  Main Street is completely shut down until the parade is over. 

There were several years one or more members of our family walked in the parade - first with Cub Scouts, then marching band, and the library.  I think this is the first year I've been able to sit and watch the parade in 3 or 4 years.  Somebody's gotta watch, right?  And Main Street is always lined with people.  The kids are especially excited, because everyone hands out candy, and they get to see fire trucks, clowns, and bands.  Now that our kids are all grown up, we have to enjoy watching other people's kids.  Jason isn't quite old enough.  Yet.  I took this video today of the UW-Madison summer marching band.  They are always so much fun to watch and a big hit.





I love the little guy dancing at the end!

Once the parade's over, we head to the park to see what we can see and get something to eat.  It's also a big fund-raising opportunity for local organizations like the PTO, Cub Scouts, and Methodist Church, among others, so we figure eating there is a good way to support our local community.  Everything actually kicks off Friday evening and runs through the weekend to Sunday at about 6pm, but we didn't get to the park this year until today.  We heard the music, though - since the park is only a couple blocks away.  And we could've watched the fireworks from our driveway if we'd been home last night.  But we weren't.

The entire event is sponsored, not by the US Money Reserve, but by the Fire Department, American Legion Post, and the Lions Club.  We always have fun.  We see and talk to our neighbors and other community members, and we always seem to run into people we don't see so often anymore - now that our kids aren't in Cub Scouts or Marching Band together.  It's nice to catch up.   And then we're ready to head home.  You can only walk around the park so many times....