The stars at night are big and bright...

The stars at night are big and bright...
The stars at night are big and bright...

Monday, September 10, 2012

I Love a Parade Pt:2

I heard they had a great turnout for the WCSP Rodeo this weekend. Unfortunately, we've had no entries in the Parade Photo Contest, so I'm going to call that a bust. Shame on you guys, ya'll missed a good parade.

Things changed on the fly, as they usually do in these kind of events. The stage was not where it usually was and was facing the wrong way. I was asked to bring music and then they switched to live music which became unstable when I tried to announce the parade over the top of the singer facing the other direction. I had a good 12 minute mix of western swing instrumentals on my phone that would have been perfect.

There weren't any school bands participating (and I still don't understand why) but Primo's had their own band which was pretty cool. I heard they won an award for their performance. Too bad nobody took any pictures...

Don't worry I saw Joe Duty scurrying around doing his thing, so I'm sure there will be some in The Mess.

Even with the Chisholm Trail Days events going on, the turnout was pretty sparse compared to when I was a kid. What's happened? Bands don't participate, people don't show up, a chunk of our heritage fades away. I've seen crowds show up in Jackistan for their parades and they line the streets. Everybody shows up. Why are things so different here?

Is a parade too lame for us Wise County urbanites? I hope not.

2 comments:

aroundthecorner said...

Some, not all, of us continue to slave away on the weekends. I would have loved to been there, oh well.

an Donalbane said...

I think it's [unfortunately] a dwindling tradition.

Similar to you, I emceed the Lions Club beauty pageants several times (I think I'm a five-timer...). This particular club dates to 1948. When I was in my 20s, they still had livestock judging at the annual fair.

One of the barns burned down - a few years later the remaining ones were torn down. I was fortunate to witness a couple of years with the livestock activities.

Not a member any more, but when I took Daughter to ride the carnival rides, I got invited/requested to fill out the last two nights of the pageant this year, and gladly accepted.

Used to be that you'd see folks at the annual fair, that you maybe didn't see the whole rest of the year.

Suburbia sucks.