Doing The Parade Thing

So we went and watched the Grand Floral Parade this morning.

Did it a little differently this year, went to a viewing party with some of the swells in a building overlooking the Parade, just as it comes off the the Burnside Bridge into Downtown/Oldtown. Although the set up was very nice, with nice catering, and a climate controlled setting at just 20 or so feet above street level, it just didn't feel right. The concensus of the critics I was with (all 11 year-old girls) was that to truly enjoy the parade experience, one needs to get out and rub shoulders with the great unwashed (and that's just the neighborhood for it, believe me!).

It was actually very nice, though subdued. Possibly because of the neighborhood, the crowds were quite thin, but very well behaved. Almost every band played, the PPB was present, and mostly pleasant. It was kind of a low voltage experience.

a couple of quick notes;

- Best Float: The one with the Hippo Ballerina. Really funny.

- Best Band: The One More Time Around Again Marching Band

- Saddest Entry: The Portland Public Schools All City Marching Band. About 20 kids in mixed uniforms from their schools. 20. Nothing wrong with what they were doing, but it is a very, very sad commentary on how far Portland Public Schools have fallen that there is not ONE Portland High School Band in our own Rose Festival. Again. We've decimated the Public Schools, taking us one more step closer to being just another big city, with the usual big city problems.

Nonetheless, it's a nice parade in a still, for the moment, nice city. The kind of city where you could go and stake out a modest viewing area for your family and your fellow citizens would show you the courtesy of respecting that little area of duct tape or chalk. Until now. Thanks Fireman Randy. You Putz.

"You gotta be tough to live out west...."