I Love A Parade

Only in Union County, Pennsylvania, does a July 4th celebration run from June 25th through July 3rd. We like a good party here.

Only in central Pennsylvania do people put out their lawn chairs two days ahead along the parade route and know they will still be there on parade day.

And only in the small town of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, a B-24 Liberator plane flies overhead to signal the start of the two plus hours long Annual Union County Veterans 4th of July Parade  (on June 29, of course.)

As usual, it was spectacular.

Son Caleb wheel chaired me over to the parade route, a block from our home, so I got out and enjoyed the fresh air and the as always, fantabulous parade.

Of course it had all the expected elements of a fun community parade - veteran appreciation, good, sunny weather, candy tossed to the kiddos from the vehicles and floats, and just the simple satisfaction of a good old down home event bringing the community coming together to celebrate.

I saw the parade and I'm glad I did.  Now you get to see the parade of photos.  Enjoy!

There were bands of all sorts - military, drum and bugle corps, high school, and bagpipes.

                                                               
















Every war in our nation's history was represented in chronological order in the parade.  Along with any veterans, there were re-enactors dressed in the uniforms of each war, and other costumed actors from each time period.  Methods of civilian transportation and military transport vehicles followed the actors.

This parade is an annual event and has been happening now for the last 19 years.  It just seems to get bigger and better every year.  This year the Phillies Phanatic even participated, leading the town's little league ball players down the parade route.  As usual, he was stirring up the crowds and making mischief.

Son Caleb got a kick out of the very famous Philadelphia mummers.

There was truly something for everyone in this parade, and the fans sure do seem to love it each year.  Sadly, every year there are rumors and rumblings about the possibility of insufficient funding causing the parade to become a thing of the past.  To whomever is funding this grand event, I am thoroughly grateful.

However, the parade goes on each year in spite of the naysayers.  Maybe those comments are simply coming from people who like to be negative.  When I see this gala event happily happening year after year, I am simply left to wonder if all those rumors are a bunch of horse poop.

Oh yeah, there were people taking care of that too....