The 16th Annual Park Hill 4th Of July Parade

Yesterday the 16th Annual Park Hill 4th of July Parade took place down 23rd Street in that historic Denver neighborhood. This is the first 4th of July parade I have attended since the ones that took place in Cannon Beach, Oregon back when we had some Hoyt family reunions on 4th of July weekends there. Just like in Cannon Beach, the parade was made up of community groups, marching bands, classic cars, politicians looking for votes, non-profits, and costumed characters. The photograph on the left features The Westernaires, a volunteer-run nonprofit youth riding organization. This group is also a regular at the annual National Western Stock Show Parade here in Denver every January, when the temperature can be about 70 degrees lower than they were yesterday. A whole different kettle of fish, as we say here out west.

There were a lot of families with children attending the parade, as you might expect, and those kids were thrilled to see various superheros at the event, including someone who I think was Captain America riding on a motorcycle, as seen in the photograph on the right. I also saw Batman taking part in the parade as well. The parade featured over 50 groups and over 1,000 marchers, riders, and performers, and so it was no surprise that it took almost 2 hours to complete. Not that I was timing it or anything.

It really surprised me how many candidates running for offices such as state representative, state senator, and city council took part in this parade, having their volunteers hand out campaign information to the crowd lining the streets. Of course, that was the case at the Stuart, Florida Christmas Parade last year, too. I remember the master of ceremonies remarking that the Democrats were now passing the reviewing platform, all two of them.  Which was both funny and also not too much of an exaggeration. The horse-drawn wagon in the photograph on the left was promoting the reelection campaign of State Senator James Coleman, who is currently President of the Colorado Senate and represents the Park Hill neighborhood. And why the horse-drawn wagon? Your guess is as good as mine. Politicians are inscrutable.