July 4th - I Love A Parade!*

       Who doesn't love a parade?  Whether they are living in Ancient Rome, Medieval Japan, Renaissance England, Los Angeles, or New York City, humans just love to strut their stuff, and if they can do it in groups with observers watching their every move, so much the better.  Come to think of it, can a parade really be called a parade if there's no one on the sidelines to watch it?  

    As always, Harvest decorates the front porch with real fabric bunting, and this year she bought little stars-n-stripes pinwheels to stick into the raised beds in the front garden.  Since there had been no official parade last year due to COVID, everyone was in high spirits this year and wanted to secure their preferred spot as soon as they could.   In years past, this has involved putting a blanket or chairs down on the "terrace" of grass between the sidewalk and the street the evening before the parade.  This year, however, the claim staking (with real stakes at times) was in full swing by midmorning of the day before the parade.  

   Being the little Norman-Rockwell-meets-Mayberry-RFD-meets-Currier-&-Ives town that it is, Evansville is no slouch when it comes to parades.  Evansville is a town that is close enough to Madison, Wisconsin to be within commuting distance of the city, but it is surrounded by farmland for miles in any direction, and our parade has a distinctive small town feel to it without being artificial.  The floats are often pulled by tractors, and some of the participants include things like the local karate kids trying to look as fearsome as possible while running through their training routines as they punch and kick their way down the street.  The local dance academy has a float.  The kids' roller hockey team skates down the street in a kind of mock game which appears to be missing sticks.

    As with all proper July 4th parades, the military color guard leads the way.  We all stand respectfully as they pass.  As they go by, the oldest veterans look even older, and the Vietnam Vets have long since turned grey.  Now there are men and women marching down the street who are much younger than I am.  There are not many of these vets, probably just a little over 20 in all, but in a town this small, that's a significant number.

    Following on the heels of the veterans are the fire trucks.  This is either a way for residents to see that their taxes pay for some really cool emergency kit, or it's for the kids (usually little boys of about two) to jump up and down, pointing and saying, "Truck!  Truck!  Truck!"  Or both.  The hook and ladder engines are some of the most impressive, but ambulances, tankers, and emergency vehicles of all kinds from nearby towns roll down the street, all bright and shiny and looking like they've never been within six miles of a fire.  It's a longstanding tradition that the firefighters, paramedics, and whoever else is riding on the vehicles toss candy almost continuously to the people lining the streets to watch.

    And what would a parade be without horses?  Bo, the black Percheron who pulls the carriage for the Evansville Carriage Company (see the post "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top") was ridden by his owner, Camille Skotnicki, with two of the other horses who are in the same barn.   It's hard to get a feel for how enormous Bo really is, but Camille looks like a child riding him, and she's a full-grown woman.  He's a big, big boy.  And a very handsome fellow he was, too. 

Another riding group followed a short time later.    

We also have our parade queens.  The photos below show just two of the many dairy queens, dairy princesses, and 4H queens who rode down Main Street.  

In addition to learning how to do "the wave" while riding in the back of a convertible, these young women are avid agriculturalists, Future Farmers of America leaders, and heavily involved in promoting the dairy industry and family farming in general.  Instead of a photo shoot wearing a skimpy swimsuit, these lovely young women pose with their calves, sheep, or horses.   Each is chosen by her county to represent farmers in her area.  There is even an Alice In Dairyland chosen for the entire state.  Dairy is a big thing here. Personally, I want to know more about those incredible gowns!

        

    Our parade has tractors.  Many, many tractors.  Vintage tractors are lovingly restored in these parts.  You'll notice that there isn't so much as a hint of mud or soil on those tires.  When going on parade, they tend to group themselves by their make, like Hogwarts houses.  

A  B.F. Avery tractor.  Note the hand crank in front to start it.

                                                                                                          An Allis Chalmers tractor

A Farmall tractor.  I particularly like the little boy at the bottom right who is absolutely enraptured with it.

                                                                  A McCormick Standard tractor

The much beloved John Deere tractor.  John Deere tractors are green and yellow precisely because other tractors weren't.  An old John Deer ad said it was "as familiar as the green of cornstalks and the gold of ripened grain."  I didn't know this, but the color of a tractor is called its "livery."  As a neo-Victorian, I find that charming.  

    In prior years, the littlest tractors of any given make (about the size of a riding lawnmower) would lead a line with each tractor larger than the one before it until, in some instances, the final piece of farm machinery would take up both sides of the street and kiss the branches of the trees along the way, sending showers of leaves into the crowd.  Then the next group would do the same for their maker.  Our compliment of agricultural monstrosities was somewhat diminished this year, but I hope for better things next July.

       We also have a few oddities in the parade as well.  According to the rider's sign, this is a 1935 John Deere "water cooled hit & miss engine ice cream maker."  The rider is a Korean War vet.  This is something you will never, ever see at the Rose Bowl Parade. 

        

 We have vintage cars.

           

And the Lion's Club had a float with, you guessed it, a lion on it.  

  Evansville's Fourth of July parade is unique in its ability to combine the patriotic with the practical.   As flags fly and horses clop by, the parade watchers are treated to a variety of rolling advertisements such as an asphalt truck with the company logo prominently displayed.  Or the local grain elevator sponsoring a float.  Subway will often have a dancing sandwich trotting down the street, and our local large-scale dairy always has a walking cow beside its vehicle.  And they throw yogurt pops.  There were two striking examples, however, that must be shared:

                                        This took me by surprise, but then there was this:

    Why, yes, that is a full-sized bathtub with shower (and shower curtain rod even) decorated with flags being pulled down the street.  What else could one wish for?

    And after a long parade, the last to come are the fair lads of the Evansville Jays, our hometown baseball team.  They play a game on July 4th every year at Lake Leota Park.  I'm not a sports fan by any means (it's nearly heresy to say that in Wisconsin), but it's great to live in a town with its very own baseball team.    

    And all of this rolls right past my front porch where I can sit and have tea and watch the parade pass by.

*My apologies in getting this post up late.  The process of sorting through dozens of photos was a bit daunting.  Happy 4th of July, everyone!