| < Previous Page | |
 |
|
|
||
For those of you
who watched the parade on television, or who missed it entirely, let me share with you
what you missed. You missed the middle of the
night remembrances of parades of the past and of the wonderful people, now departed, who
loved those parades. You missed the sight of
beautiful sleepy-eyed, pajama clad children emerging from their sleeping bags at dawn. You missed the early morning smells of sausage,
pancakes, eggs and bacon being prepared on countless outdoor grills along the parade
route. I found a man serving free sausage and
pancakes to anyone who wanted them. “I’ve
been doing this for my kids for five years” he said.
“After you set up the grill, what are a few hundred extra
pancakes?” You missed the sounds of
thousands of excited children playing in the street as they awaited the start of the
parade. You missed a wonderful morning when
everyone you met smiled, said “good morning”, and really meant it. You missed seeing a dog that had been trained to
sit up and wave like a parade queen. You
missed some of the greatest street-chalk art in the world.
I saw a woman with buckets of chalk, outfitted in knee pads and latex gloves
teaching dozens of children the finer points of chalk-art technique. You missed seeing a motorcycle policeman play catch
with a group of wide-eyed boys. You missed
seeing the grinning senior citizen, who walked the parade route tossing handfuls of
quarters into the street, much to the delight of scrambling children. You missed seeing the little girl dressed in purple
“Barney” pajamas dancing and following a musical ice cream cart down the street. You missed seeing the elderly gentleman who
struggled to stand upright when the color guard passed by.
He removed his hat, stood at attention, then wiped away tears and sat down
after the flags had passed by. You missed the
goose bumps. You don’t get goose bumps
when you watch a parade on television. If you would like to experience the joy of working behind the scenes to assist in the creation of floral floats for the June11, Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade, click on this link to the Studio Concepts web site. You can register online to work as a volunteer building floats during the period of June 4 through June 10. See you at the Parade........ |
||
| Copyright © 2005, Floral Design Institute | ||
|
||
