Does marching up and down the street pretending you’re actually IN the parade and embarrassing your children count for anything? I believe this type of activity is important to desensitize my progeny. This way, when they walk out of the bathroom with toilet paper trailing behind them or they accidentally spit food on their date, it will be child’s play. They will say, “We survived our mother. Humiliation has no power over us.” And they will have me to thank.
You're welcome.
Aren’t you obligated to march around and be filled with wonderment and joy when you hear music, see twinkling Christmas lights, and have a party of twenty five friends all determined to have a merry time in the nippy, windy cold?
And the first thing down the street was my FAVORITE entry each year. I have no idea what it’s called but I want one. These photo effects could call my sobriety into question…….
(click to embiggen – good luck)
See?
The people ride in the center and I wanna be one of those people.
The drought’s been so bad here we have to put our boats to use on land.
And hey, it’s Clovis…….we’re a rodeo town….we gotta have our horses…..
……and country music. Advice to KISS Country - Allison Krause should be on the side of that bus.
And Jeeps……being a Jeep gal myself I think this is a vital part of the parade.
This one had so many lights he ran with a generator on top. Bo spotted that. I could see her making plans for our Jeep and generator.
And then other 4x4’s got in the show……
This one was a favorite. I’d use it for my Christmas tree and shove the presents under the differential.
And no self respecting cowboy town would be complete without its semi trucks (this was AWEsome)…..
And the really old cars….
And the rare cars…..like this Kaiser Traveler.
It’s older than I am and I appreciate that about a car. I ran down the road after it just to keep getting photos. My son was hollering after me, “What are you DOING?” Gee whiz. Doesn’t he know by now?
The marching band has to get in there and if you’re having Irish Coffee while you’re staring at this it should look just perfect to you.
This one as well. But check out the light trails on the drumsticks. Whoa. Dude.
Here come the sweet ones with the kiddos.
And finally, the float that sums up the season. The one about CHRISTmas. Love this.
So there you have it. Proof (on the banner over the street) that you’re supposed to be a child to attend. I qualified. And I’m proud to be a Clovisite, or Clovisian, or a Clovisonian…..whatever it is we’re called. We have an identity crisis around here. We used to be a little bitty town. Now we have over 100,000 people and no one’s ever heard of us. They never give the weather for Clovis, only Fresno. We aren’t on the maps on the local news. Shoot, we can’t even elect our mayor. It’s an appointed position that harkens back to the time when we only had three people in the town and they had shoot-outs over who got to be mayor and wear the three piece suit. (I'm sure I'm next in line to be town historian.) We have one guy whose been mayor about 48 times. Hi Harry.
But we are who we are and you can see we don’t let it stop us. If you’re ever in central California, slow down, turn east, and you’ll find us at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Our official town motto? “Clovis Is A Way of Life.” And all I can say is, “Boy Howdy!”
Thanks for coming to the parade with me. :-)
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