What has happened to Small Town America?

This morning I was up early and out the door to make sure I wasn't late for the St Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Bremerton WA.  This was the 18th Anniversary of the parade sponsored by the Bremerton Main Stream Association.  Being born on St. Patrick's Day I just have a thing about all the "hoopla" associated with this holiday.  I even drove downtown  a couple weeks ago to take a picture of a reader board with the info for my previous blog on the subject.

Spending several years as a child in the Puyallup area I can remember arriving early to the Daffodil parade, then moving to Spokane in Junior High I remember going to see the Lilac Torchlight Parade and if you weren't  there early you couldn't get a seat to see. So I guess my past experience influenced my getting downtown about an hour early. I thought I would have to park far away - so I did. I would never have thought I could have parked right where I stood and watched the parade!

Now I want to give kudos to those that put this baby on!! I want to thank everyone that participated. I want to tell them I so enjoyed this small little parade!! I talked with some great people and connected with total strangers.  I went alone well, because I wanted to. 

I took a bunch of video and pictures. From what I could tell there was a color guard, a bagpipe group, about 3 cars, a bus, a tractor pulling a hay sled filled with cute girls, a few people with strollers, some tots on tricycles and a Harley, Oh and a strange bicycle group. Candy was thrown and little ones screamed and jumped with joy. There were smiles and laughs and I am sure everyone had fun.

I just want to know.....where were the fire trucks, where were the marching bands, where were some clowns? Are we all so busy these days that we can't participate in community activities? I hate to use the phrase, "When I was a kid" because dang it I don't feel that old, but that is all I could think of. Twenty-five years ago I lived in a small town in Eastern Washington. There was a parade and everyone in town was there! The Mayor, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, everyone!! You could see the High School marching band, the cheerleaders, the dance/drill squad, all that was good was there.

So why not now? What has happened to Small Town America?

One of my favorite sayings is "If you aren't part of the solution, You are part of the problem", so next year there will be at least one clown with a green curly wig on!