I love a parade!

When I moved downtown I promised myself that I would take advantage of events that I could walk to and I've had lots of opportunities lately.Today I walked four blocks and watched the Three Rivers Festival Parade and it was everything a parade should be - floats, marching bands, old cars, a variety of queens and princesses and lots of groups walking for their cause.  I was really pleased with the patriotism of it all and with the attitude of the people around me.  They cheered and applauded for the national guard units and the WW2 and Korean War veterans. That;s to be expected, but they also cheered for the police, the gay pride group, the Sikhs who had served in American armed services, a group of Buddhist monks, and much more.  it made me proud to be from Fort Wayne - an apparently very inclusive community. I didn't walk with the group from our church but I was pleased to see them walk by. The only tiny glitch in the festivities that I saw was the diversion of the giant blue mastodon balloon.  I was standing just north of the railroad overpass on Calhoun Street and saw the realization dawn on the drivers / guiders of the big balloon when they realized it wasn't going to make it under the bridge. It was diverted to a side street and slowly deflated as the rest of the parade went on. I was also pleased with how colleges had units in the parade. Ball State mad a good showing and so did Purdue. I will definitely go back next year.