Two Parades
We went to two parades in two weeks.
The first was the annual Worthington Memorial Day parade that's M family has been attending for basically M's entire life. Last year, this parade was the first one Birdie ever attended. This year, it was the capstone of a long weekend spent at M's sister's house. Birdie had a great time again both at the parade and over the whole weekend. M found her a little Birdie-sized lawn chair via the buy nothing group which we set out next to M's father on the same corner they always sit on. Birdie bounced around between her chair and the sidewalk as any number of local organizations came walking and rolling by. She was disinterested in the candy that was handed out, but her cousin L was happy to claim it. We were joined by assorted of M's family's friends and neighbors.
The second parade was the annual Parade the Circle parade put on by the Cleveland Museum of Art on June 10. I had somehow never attended this parade even though gieves, darlox and Cynthia have all participated in it to a greater or lesser extent over the years. This year Cynthia marched in the parade, while we joined gieves and darlox and their daughter in the crowd of attendees. Birdie sat on the curb at the intersection of Wade Circle and East Blvd with the rest of the group for most of the parade and then moved back near me in the shade with the strollers, where she promptly ignored the parade in favor of flopping on the luxurious lawns of my alma mater.
Parade the Circle is basically a gigantic walking art project. Everyone is dressed up in a wide variety of costumes carrying or pushing an equally wide variety of floats. Both costumes and floats are built up by volunteers working with artists for several months prior to the parade. There are dancers, bands, stilt walkers, and people waving giant banners. Unlike the Memorial Day parade, there are no cars or trucks - every float is driven by people power. Visually, it looks very different from the Memorial Day parade, and it's hard to compare the two. The closest thing to overlap between the two was that Parade the Circle had a couple of traditional marching bands. It's like asking "what's better, a hamburger or a bowl of pad thai?" Well, both are great, so it depends on your mood that day. I did harbor some fantasies of taking all the Memorial Day parade groups and adding Parade the Circle costumes though.
The common thread between the parades is that Birdie had a great time, and I expect we'll be doing both for the foreseeable future. Honestly, most of the Parade the Circle prep activities seems like something M would be hugely interested in (costumes! crafts!) so it's entirely possible she (and maybe Birdie) might be IN the parade some year.
The first was the annual Worthington Memorial Day parade that's M family has been attending for basically M's entire life. Last year, this parade was the first one Birdie ever attended. This year, it was the capstone of a long weekend spent at M's sister's house. Birdie had a great time again both at the parade and over the whole weekend. M found her a little Birdie-sized lawn chair via the buy nothing group which we set out next to M's father on the same corner they always sit on. Birdie bounced around between her chair and the sidewalk as any number of local organizations came walking and rolling by. She was disinterested in the candy that was handed out, but her cousin L was happy to claim it. We were joined by assorted of M's family's friends and neighbors.
The second parade was the annual Parade the Circle parade put on by the Cleveland Museum of Art on June 10. I had somehow never attended this parade even though gieves, darlox and Cynthia have all participated in it to a greater or lesser extent over the years. This year Cynthia marched in the parade, while we joined gieves and darlox and their daughter in the crowd of attendees. Birdie sat on the curb at the intersection of Wade Circle and East Blvd with the rest of the group for most of the parade and then moved back near me in the shade with the strollers, where she promptly ignored the parade in favor of flopping on the luxurious lawns of my alma mater.
Parade the Circle is basically a gigantic walking art project. Everyone is dressed up in a wide variety of costumes carrying or pushing an equally wide variety of floats. Both costumes and floats are built up by volunteers working with artists for several months prior to the parade. There are dancers, bands, stilt walkers, and people waving giant banners. Unlike the Memorial Day parade, there are no cars or trucks - every float is driven by people power. Visually, it looks very different from the Memorial Day parade, and it's hard to compare the two. The closest thing to overlap between the two was that Parade the Circle had a couple of traditional marching bands. It's like asking "what's better, a hamburger or a bowl of pad thai?" Well, both are great, so it depends on your mood that day. I did harbor some fantasies of taking all the Memorial Day parade groups and adding Parade the Circle costumes though.
The common thread between the parades is that Birdie had a great time, and I expect we'll be doing both for the foreseeable future. Honestly, most of the Parade the Circle prep activities seems like something M would be hugely interested in (costumes! crafts!) so it's entirely possible she (and maybe Birdie) might be IN the parade some year.