The Parade Of Lights

This past Friday and Saturday The Parade of Lights took place in downtown Denver.  The parade starts at 8:00 in the evening and 6:00 on Saturday, and features floats, marching bands, mounted horses, etc, all lite up with colored lights.  The participants include businesses, schools, charitable organizations, and even city departments.  For example, the sanitation department featured a dump truck covered with Christmas lights, and Denver Water featured a dancing, colorfully lite toilet.  Yes! Really!  But despite the dancing toilet, it is always a lot of fun, except,  of course, for the fact it is always held when the temperature is well below freezing.

This parade is wildly popular in Denver, and to get a good view you have to arrive very early.  I found a spot behind an older couple, sitting in chairs, about an hour before the parade began, and passed the time people-watching.  Crowds lined each side of the street and were so thick that people trying to cross the street couldn't get through to the other side, and immediately became part of the parade.  And as you would expect, there were a huge number of children in the crowd, their parents holding them up so they could see all the action.  That is why I picked an elderly couple to stand in front of - no blocked views once the parade began, which is usually what happens.  In any case, the parade lasted about 45 minutes or so, and the crowd quickly dispersed afterwards, with all the children no doubt dropping off to sleep that night with visions of colorfully lighted, dancing toilets in their heads.