SMALLTOWN, USA 4th OF JULY

We were in Manzanita, on the Oregon coast, for the 4th of July. They have, as many small towns do, a parade. If your experience of parades is what you get in a city or see on TV, it's easy for forget what small town celebrations are like. They're Real, with a capital "R".

I loved the inclusive feel of this parade. If you wanted to be in it, you were in it. Your float might be a bicycle with ribbons and streamers, but it was your float. Everyone was roundly applauded. Everyone, without exception--war veterans, aged and recently returned from Iraq, floats calling for peace, floats celebrating the Summer of Love, people on horseback, on foot, in costume, in cars, on the backs and tops of pickups, scooters, motorcycles, old beauty queens, babes in strollers--we whooped and hollered and clapped for all of them. It was great. I took a lot of photos, and rather than string them in a long, vertical, line, I'm going to try a slideshow.

And one video. This is the float our son created, with two of our grandkids on it. Son Jeff is driving the pickup, one grandson is standing in the pickup bed, and our granddaughter is the lovely throwing candy from The Black Squirrel. The float was made from cardboard Jeff salvaged from the work site of the house he and DH have been building. (The arm waving, and yelling you'll see and hear, are DH. Do you think maybe he's proud and happy?)


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