It was dry when we got there but started to rain about 10 minutes before the parade was to start. One of my best friends, Auntie Sandy, came with us and the 5 of us worked hard to stay dry. Because of the clouds and the rain it was so much warmer than last year which was a nice bonus but I'm not sure if I'd prefer frigid cold or rain.
There were two things that struck me, both of which I think I may write letters to the city about.
Item #1: The candy canes. Holy hell. We got 33 candy canes total, and I'm not kidding. Take a look:
This was just some of the candy canes we received, most of which were thrown at the feet of the kids and shattered into a bazillion pieces. It just seems like there could be a better use of funds than buying shitty little candy canes and throwing them at kids. I don't mean to be a killjoy, I understand that's part of the fun. But every. single. float? I don't know. It was excessive. Ok, I won't write a letter to the city about that. That would be even sillier than receiving 33 candy canes in an hour.
Item #2: I'm absolutely writing a letter to the city (the parade coordinator? The city manager?) about this. Right in front of us stopped a huge flatbed truck which carried one of the local youth football teams. The boys on the float were between the ages of 10 and 16 I'd say. The float stopped for about 2 minutes in front of us and while there the boys on the float were engaging in a not-so-positive back and forth with some other boys who were on the curb next to us. I gathered that the boys on the curb play for a rival football team. The boys said something and then some of the boys on the float were saying, "Don't hate, you guys suck!" That was said multiple times and my kids heard. It wasn't quiet and the adults on the float were smiling at the back-and-forth between these boys. Then one of the older boys started throwing gang signs. I'm not completely up on the gang sign language but there was no doubt what he was doing. William said, "Are they going to throw anything? (see item #1) and I said, "Other than gang signs? I guess not." It really was so inappropriate and since I'm such a bitch with no tolerance for such things, I'm going to bring it to the attention of someone. The adults in that organization need to know how those boys were representin'. It wasn't pretty.
A couple pictures:
Before the parade, before the rain. What would a parade be without Starbucks? Can you tell I spiked William's drink? Just kidding.
Beautiful horses
Peters Party of...4. Missing daddy.
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Cute post! FUN parade... we were definitely sitting right next to you!! still puzzled how we didn't notice each other??! We too came home with about 20 candy canes, the kids were hopped up on candy canes big time, lol! xo
ReplyDeletei found your blog from jillian's FB status ... is that weird? lol! i had to comment, after reading what you said about the football float. was it the younger buffalo's (not the MHS team, but the other one) float? we were all the way at the end of the parade, by the high school. but we saw and heard the exact same thing. they were saying "you suck" to some kids on the curb ... their rival's. especially #91 on the float. there were adults along the curb, yelling back that his attitude sucked. what shocked me even more, was the the parents walking with this float didn't do a single thing about it. one of the ladies mouthed "isn't that embarrasing", but didn't put him in his place. or yank him off the float. that really bothered me. and i think that someone should be held accountable for it ... that's totally uncalled for.
ReplyDeleteok, done with my rant. what a way to introduce myself to a fellow parade watcher. lol!