The Baby Parade, earlier in the day, was rather brief; my wife Sue and I had left Connecticut at 7:00 AM to get there on time. We stood with Mrs. Beddow, Darline's mother, and Mrs. Huyler, Jeff's mother (Jeff and Dean are RP '83). The theme had to do with Hershey's Kisses, I think. Only a few divisions, but a lot of enthusiasm.
After picking up my niece, off to the main parade. The bomb blasts startled the toddlers: we were near the Post Office, Cedar and Main, so the blasts were loud. The parade was great, as usual; lots of bands, floats, politicians and candy, and the VFW jeep towing the little cannon and firing regularly. There were bagpipe bands, one playing "The Sloop John B.", which was a new one on me. There were fife-and-drum corps. The Caballeros did their bang-up job. And we were joined by Ed Newmark and Butch Elicona, who enthused over the RPHS band, guitars, bass, chorus, and all.
The tail of the parade was the traditional fire and ambulance vehicles, all blaring away on their sirens. I had thought they stopped that at some point,
out of consideration of the kid's ears, but this year they were blasting away. I like it-- it is the tradition-- and if you were concerned, well, it's the end of the parade and Dean for one took his kids away. My grand-nieces just covered their ears. I got a few pictures that don't do it justice: there are fire engines as far up the road as you can see.The weather wasn't too hot: overcast and a bit muggy. The fireworks were rained out, alas; I had taken the 5th off in anticipation of staying in town to see them. I have traveled a bit, and seen a lot of different shows, and in my opinion the RP fireworks are right up there with the best. I prefer them to the Grucci fireworks-to-music.
