What did YOU do for the Fourth?09:23:48 AMIn Upper Arlington, Ohio, where I live, Independence Day is a big community event. I blogged about this three years ago when our street (the Devon Road Neighborhood) last entered the UA Fourth of July parade (and won Best in Show). 
This year, we were back.
I won't go into all the details here as they are pretty much the same as in my post from 2005 in terms of who is allowed to be a part of the Devon Road Neighborhood (pretty much anybody) and our goals (fun and great memories for our kids), but this year we did a theme centered around Hippies. More specifically, the music from the Broadway musical Hair.
We always build two floats, one for the main show and one for the babies. The babies this year were carried in a VW bus made out of plywood and painted with LOVE, PEACE, HAPPINESS and lots of flowers.
The show float, carrying 8 of the neighborhood ladies in costume and doing dance routines, featured the White House. Why the White House? I dunno. It's a recognizable national symbol and, hey, it's Independence Day. Whatever.
Inside the VW were 25 or so of the smallest kids. It was packed. Surrounding the floats were other groups, each with their own routines. There were 20 or so mid-aged kids (8-12 or so) at the front with a dance routine, followed by another 20-30 mothers and young women (with a harder dance routine)
They, in turn, were followed by the floats (connected in tandem), followed by the Dads and oldest boys who all had hoola-hoops converted into Peace signs with which they did back-and-forth, walk-the-dog, and run-around-in-circles routines that would have made the Shriners proud.
In all, something like 120 neighborhood folks participated, everybody having a great time. Although we ultimately won the "Most Entertaining" prize, the wooden placque was unnecessary. After a week of building, painting, practicing dance routines and, yes, a fair share of neighborly comraderie, the real prize was the fun of getting ready.
Look out 2010...we'll be back!
1. Brad07/08/2008 08:23:43 AM
Scott,
Sorry I missed the parade but that was a great float. You looked really good in the print dress and white go-go boots! If that outfit is FIA approved, I'll expect to see you racing in it this weekend.
Brad
