A Day to Remember

Today we had a parade in town to celebrate the 375th Birthday of Concord.  Concord was the first inland settlement in Massachusetts and was incorporated on September 12, 1635.  You can read a short summary of the history of the town HERE.

When I first heard that the parade would be held on September 11th, I thought it would be difficult to enjoy the festivities on the anniversary of such a terrible event.

We lost a wonderful man from our town in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center.  The Rotary Club had a special banner in tribute to Al Filipov, who was also a Deacon at our church.  It was such a beautiful day  - much like the day nine years ago.  It turned out that the parade was a good way to celebrate our American way of life.

I took hundreds of photos and I thought I'd share some of them with you.  The parade began with a tribute to our veterans.

There was a large float for the honored citizens and town officials.

The Parade was organized as a chronology of the development of the town - beginning with the Native Americans who settled in Concord because of the three rivers which come together here.

The Wells Fargo Wagon - makes me want to sing the song from The Music Man!

There was an amazing group of unicyclists - some of them were juggling!

The tricky thing about being a unicyclist in a parade is all of the starting and stopping - they just have to circle until the parade is ready to move on.

But soon they were able to proceed, holding hands in rows of four or more.

There was a float for the Orchard House - home of Louisa May Alcott who wrote Little Women and many other books.

Since I grew up near Philadelphia, I was very excited to see the Greater Kensington String Band.  These bands participate in the famous Mummers Parade on New Years Day in Philadelphia and I had never seen them in this area.

Their costumes are brilliantly colorful and they glittered in the sun.

Have you ever seen a bicycle built for four?

Concord is also known for the Concord grape which was developed here.  Welch's sponsored this colorful float and a walking bunch of grapes!

 Beautiful fruits and vegetables from local farmers and greenhouses.

There were many bands and all sorts of music were represented.

 One of the more unusual was the "Senior Shakers" - a tambourine band.

There are always a few balloons that get away - but it is fun to see how high they go!

The Gentlemen Songsters, also known as The Singing Doughboys.

The League of Women Voters

Jazz in a fire truck - The New Liberty Jazz Band.

Ford Model "A" moving van - I can't imagine how many trips it would take to move us in a van this size!

The balloons looked so pretty in the sun.

The sign says "Happy 375 Birthday Concord - the Party Heard Round the World."

At the end of the parade was an enormous birthday cake - quite a sight to behold!

I hope you enjoyed this trip to the parade with me.  I have several hundred photos and I am challenging myself to do something with them as soon as possible.  I see some digital collages in my near future..

 We are supposed to have fireworks tomorrow night - keeping our fingers crossed that the rain will stay away.  I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

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