Flags and Appreciation are parade themes
American Flags were THE accessory at parades in Manlius and Cazenovia on the 4th.
Fourth of July Parades are part of the holiday tradition in both Manlius and Cazenovia. Manlius stages it at 10 in the morning...Cazenovia's is a 1pm start.
At both, there was lots of music: bagpipers marching in Manlius, the Cazenovia Community Band at curbside on Albany Street, playing Sousa Marches (Stars and Stripes Forever, Washington Post) to accompany passing parade goers. "I've been doing it my whole life, so it's a tradition," says Cazenovia trumpet player Sam Kimber, who's been coming to parades but was playing in only her second. "Sense of community and unity" is what she says the parade gives her.
Besides the music, public servants were another common theme, fire trucks and fire companies, and politicians--some walked, some rode in cars, and you could spot them as the most dressed-up. For others, a more casual attire, though everyone seemed to have a flag--or something red white and blue, to wave. "My country means a lot to me," Roxana Greene told us. She comes back to her hometown, Cazenovia, every Fourth to see the parade and meet with her high school classmates.
Also visiting, the Stoddard family, with Melanie telling us that there's nothing like Cazenovia's parade in the Binghamton area, where they now live. 'It's my favorite holiday," she says. "We love the family atmosphere." And not just family, but community.
At Cazenovia's parade, community flavor came through with the many horses on the route, ridden by Cazenovia College students, as well as mini horses being driven and bigger carriage horses, a preview of the Lorenzo Driving Competition.
Also in the parade, members of Limestone Creek Hunt showing off their foxhounds---as children in the crowd cheered "doggies!" Local business Critz Farms had a tractor, pulling a children's ride painted up like black and white cows.
There were church groups doing shopping cart precision drills (and collecting for food pantries), and a what-if: 'Prince William' and his new 'bride' in a convertible, kissing amidst signs asking why they didn't honeymoon here.
There were lots of cheers, and applause, along both parade routes: thanks to those who put on the shows, and those who've served. In Manlius, one of the biggest ovations, for World War Two veterans.
