The parade passed me by

Last evening marked the kick-off of the Prime Beef Festival, beginning officially with the parade down Broadway in Monmouth. I've always liked the start of the parade best of all -- they used to set off a big-ol' cannon, followed by the Stearman fly-overs. Them planes is cool. The Stearman Restorers Association come in to Galesburg Airport on Labor Day & stick around the neighborhood doing fly-overs and flour-bombing contests at surrounding airports for the entire week. We like Stearmans. We wish we had $50 or more to go for a jaunt about in one, but we're broke, as usual.

I digress.

The parade. I'm about at the halfway point -- it goes from Main Street to 11th Street, & I prefer to sit right around 7th, across from the college's auditorium... for sentimental reasons. I was pleased to note that as the leaders to the parade, the American Legion Color Guard, approached, the crowd rose to its feet (exceptions being a handful of college students -- the lazy, insolent louts!).

Following them, the police & fire depts were represented, & behind them was the local high school band. They're about half the size the band was when I was in school, & not as well-practiced at either playing or marching, but then, the season is young... On the other hand, they were rather badly shown up by little ROWVA's style, precision, and really spiffy flag corps uniforms.

Festival royalty rode in boats on trailers , followed by the Monmouth College pep band, the Highlanders followed by some Democratic candidates, a bad float, a couple of carloads of local dignitaries, and the College marching band in their pajamas, I guess. Another couple of floats, a couple more dignitaries in convertibles, and then the Republefant rolled by... My seester asked me hows come her Democrats didn't have a donkey and I told her that they did... he was running for office. She said, "Good point."

Anyway, the big-time Repblican walking the parade beat this time was Andrea Zinga... I hope she can learn to keep her foot out of her mouth around handicapped voters. When she was running against Lane Evans last time, she said something that made her sound insensitive to all disabled and ill individuals, when all she was asking was whether or not Evans, with his deteriorating health from Parkinson's, might better serve his constituents by stepping down before he couldn't work any more... Duh. But then, everybody said she was dissin' us gimps. Gaaaah!

So, Zinga gone. Parade goes on.

(To be continued...)