November 1, 2008. It rained the evening of the original scheduled date of October 25, but this evening it was clear and the temperature was in the 50's.
Expecting huge crowds, we arrived at 5 PM for a 7 PM parade. At 5 PM, folks were already seated at curbside at their favorite viewing place ! At 5:30 we were also surprised to find no-waiting at The American House Hotel restaurant. We walked in and had immediate seating. The food was excellent. By observation, we learned that the locals either brought their own food or enjoyed steaks and fries served up by numerous vendors on the street.
The parade started on time and King Frost was one of the first floats.
There were numerous bands and majorettes all along the parade route.
At all previous parades we have attended, the only announcement of which group is next has been at the reviewing stand. At this parade there were several announcement areas throughout the parade route, which was very nice indeed.
Pretty women were on hand waving to the crowds.
The All Star String band come by and Paddy walked into the street and did the Philadelphia mummers strut. The spectators applauded.
Off in the distance, I noticed this guy peaking around the corner of a building. He would jump out and scare those who walked by. He had a large crowd of friends who checked out the reaction of the "scared" victims. As we approached, I had my camera at the ready and "flashed him" before he could jump out and scare us. His friends got a belly laugh at my catching him off guard. That was so funny and we really enjoyed the incident.
The parade had many patriotic floats, comics, cars, motorcycles, horses, military vehicles, singers and motorized scooters. It was a very entertaining parade.
Yep, it was another great fall weekend.