This is what I saw outside our window at 7:30 this morning:
It was very, very loudly playing tape-recorded sounds of train whistles and "all aboard" sounds. Since we actually do live within hearing distance of some train tracks, I thought it was just the loudest freight train ever.
So, evidently our parking lot is either the staging ground or landing point for every local parade-- and they do seem to love parades here in Wisconsin. The other day, I had trouble driving home because the Miss Wisconsin pageant was taking place across the street, and was opening with a parade [really]. This morning, I was feeling anything but patriotic, what with the recent "commuting of sentence" [cough! pardon!] and all.... I'm just not a great big 'ol American these days. However, standing on our balcony I found myself somewhat hypnotized by all of the hullabaloo, so I decided to go out and do some participant observation at the big town Fourth of July Parade.
I appeared to have stumbled into a production of the Music Man, or else onto Main St., USA. People were lined up all over the street, flags waving, etc. The parade opened with bagpipes and firemen and continued with a wide assortment of participants-- local political folk, local businesses, local dance and karate teams, and a whole lot of local military and veterans. There is a widespread culture of participation in the Armed Forces here, and there was a massive show of respect-- people stood for every float of veterans or army folk who went by.
Aside from that civic ritual, the primary purpose of the parade seemed to be to dispense candy to small children. Every group that marched by had buckets of candy, which they threw at the kids lining the parade route. I can see how kids grow up to be proud Americans-- if patriotism=candy, then they'll keep coming back for more.
[I know, I know, this is kind of a cynical post].
My favorite part of the parade by far was the "Precision Briefcase Drill Team" put on by one of the local realty firms. They made me positively giddy:
The local Republican party had an elaborate float:
Evidently the only Republican they could really get behind was.... Eisenhower. Hmmmmmm.
[Actually, the theme of the entire parade was the 1950s-- also telling-- but it's still funny].
A sidenote: we actually drove through Ripon, Wisconsin last week on our way to Minnesota, and there are indeed signs as you enter town proudly proclaiming its place in national history. It's a cute little town. My question is: which GOP is being celebrated? The Party of Lincoln, or its more recent incarnations?
The Democrats were there, too, but, perhaps typically, they couldn't seem to get it together to do anything interesting and just walked with some signs for local candidates.
But enough politics for now. On to ...
That's Miss Oshkosh Centennial, 1953. She appears to have held up pretty well. The current Miss Oshkosh [as well as the current Miss Rural Winnebago] was also present.
There are more pictures of the parade over on flickr in the Wisconsin set. Speaking of pictures, I have tons of photos from the past month or two that are not yet up on flickr, there will be more to come over there in the future, so stay tuned.
I'm not sure how to feel about my morning adventure. On the one hand, it was this strange throwback to small-town Americana. On another hand, it was a celebration of militarism [the biggest hand went to the marines and soldiers in camouflage], which is not my favorite thing [this is an understatement]. There was something very sweet about all of the little families out to enjoy the parade, and something very disturbing, to me at least, about the parade's messages. I wish that I could be proud to be American like I was when I was a little kid, but I just can't. Of course, this all begs the question: what is America, anyway? This goes closer to academic discussions than I'd like to on this blog, so I'll just wish everyone a happy and safe day with family and friends, wherever you may be on the little blue planet today.
4 comments:
As I type this, I have my own parade outside my apartment window, albeit very disorganized and briefcase-free. It's a parade of 1) cars desperately trying to find parking as the fireworks down by the water are exploding overhead and 2) drunk people from the Haight stumbling down my street en route to whatever 4th of July parties are dotting the landscape below. In the span of typing this comment (and I type pretty damn fast), I've heard two beer bottles smash on the sidewalk outside. This is my side of America, the land of Gotta Be Me.
I've had my share of patriotic parades as a kid with candy thrown, although the patriotism was not the primary focus. But I never really made the patriotism=candy connection, only the parade=candy connection. So, there's hope.
oh my gawd, curdistan. brilliant! good job, Phoebe! ;)
Wait a minute! I thought you weren't going to go with Curdistan!
And how did you post with it on June 15 if you were set against it when I visited? Hmm . . . I'm sensing something afoot.
That said -- still in ecstasy from the briefcases.
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