Spud Day Parade 2011

Spud Day was September 17th this year. The weather had been a bit unpredictable, but this morning was beautiful. It was also cold. We were bad parents, not far enough out from summer weather, to think about how cold the morning might be. OK. It was my fault. Chad had some of the kids getting jackets and I didn't think they would need them.

Anyway, we survived.

The parade is a huge candy parade. Here are the kids. They are not looking at what is coming down the street, except for to see if candy is being thrown from it. The significance of any parade vehicle is completely lost on them.

CANDY! There they go! The are greyhounds chasing the robot rabbit. As you can see, it is not only kids who get caught up in the action.

Sarah gets to enjoy her prized tootsie roll. Her face is splotchy red because she'd tipped a camp chair over backwards...in the street. No worries...candy helps a lot.

Since this is a parade to celebrate potato harvest, there are tractors. There are semi trucks. There are HUGE pieces of farm equipment. Normal parade participants, right? There are also a few "floats" from religious groups, and local businesses. The parade has a theme every year and judges the entries. But I don't think anyone really cares about that. It's really about the candy.

The local grocery store has a gigantic grocery cart in the parade every year. Joseph had seen it in their parking lot a day or two before the parade and couldn't stop wondering over it. So this picture is mostly for him ;) You can see how far I really was from all the action. It was a much safer distance than the wall of candy grabbers (my own children included) that were so close to the traffic that they had to back up to let the larger vehicles make the turn. I think think the city police should be out there and monitor that all a lot better. I think I was a little too far away, though. :)