Stanton, Nebraska, my small hometown, has a fantastic July 4th parade and celebration. It represents small-town Americana at its very best. They didn't do this when I lived there 46 years ago. I was a member of the marching band back then, so I think I would have remembered.
Now over the 4th there is the parade, a morning poker run/walk, a flag-raising ceremony at the VFW club, a craft show, bake sale, cake walk, dodgeball tournament, softball games, food tents, pancake breakfast, the swimming pool and Heritage Museum are open, and the day ends with a wonderful fireworks display. I'm sure I have even forgotten some other activities.
I want to talk about the parade. I was in Stanton this past weekend visiting family. The road trip went great and I had a wonderful time. The days went much too fast.
Not long before the parade start, the planners were still desperate to find out-of-staters to be parade float judges. I assume they were looking for objectivity which is why they wanted people from out-of-state, or maybe it is because we would soon be long gone and wouldn't have to deal with complaints about our judging. A young woman from Minnesota named Darby and I were who they tracked down. Everybody in a small town knows everybody else, and knows who have out-of-town visitors they can tap.
I/we had no idea what we were doing but it was a blast. We had to pick the best motorcycle from the couple of dozen of Legion Cycles. They were amazing! There were classic Harleys and even a restored Indian. Not knowing anything about motorcycles, though, we went with the most patriotic.
Then we had to pick the top 3 parade entries.....there were floats, antique tractors, old cars and trucks, all the town's emergency and fire equipment, a semi-tractor and trailer, a bit of everything. We knew nothing about old tractors/cars/trucks, so again went with the most patriotic.
We got to ride in the parade in the back of a Mustang convertible following the '69 Corvette convertible carrying the parade Grand Marshal. My sis-in-law Jeanette is a friend of the owner of the Mustang and drove it in the parade, so my nephews, Gunnar and Gatlin, got to ride with us and throw out candy to the the parade-watchers. What a blast!
The Stanton Marching band performed, too. I love marching bands. I still find the half-time show to be the best part of football games. (I know, all you you Husker fans are groaning to hear this, but knowing me, know that this is true.)
The population of Stanton, Nebraska is 1500. Whoever wasn't in the parade was there watching. What a wonderful community event.
All that was lacking was a loud-speaker blaring Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." Then it would have been perfect.
If you're not in the parade, you watch the parade. That's life.
“Living in a small town...is like living in a large family of rather uncongenial relations. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s perfectly awful, but it’s always good for you. People in large towns are like only-children.”
― Joyce Dennys, Henrietta Sees It Through: More News from the Home Front 1942-1945
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