Saturday, September 11, 2010

A Day to Remember


Today we had a parade in town to celebrate the 375th Birthday of Concord.  Concord was the first inland settlement in Massachusetts and was incorporated on September 12, 1635.  You can read a short summary of the history of the town HERE.


When I first heard that the parade would be held on September 11th, I thought it would be difficult to enjoy the festivities on the anniversary of such a terrible event.


We lost a wonderful man from our town in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center.  The Rotary Club had a special banner in tribute to Al Filipov, who was also a Deacon at our church.  It was such a beautiful day  - much like the day nine years ago.  It turned out that the parade was a good way to celebrate our American way of life.


I took hundreds of photos and I thought I'd share some of them with you.  The parade began with a tribute to our veterans.




There was a large float for the honored citizens and town officials.


The Parade was organized as a chronology of the development of the town - beginning with the Native Americans who settled in Concord because of the three rivers which come together here.





The Wells Fargo Wagon - makes me want to sing the song from The Music Man!


There was an amazing group of unicyclists - some of them were juggling!


The tricky thing about being a unicyclist in a parade is all of the starting and stopping - they just have to circle until the parade is ready to move on.


But soon they were able to proceed, holding hands in rows of four or more.


There was a float for the Orchard House - home of Louisa May Alcott who wrote Little Women and many other books.


Since I grew up near Philadelphia, I was very excited to see the Greater Kensington String Band.  These bands participate in the famous Mummers Parade on New Years Day in Philadelphia and I had never seen them in this area.


Their costumes are brilliantly colorful and they glittered in the sun.


Have you ever seen a bicycle built for four?



Concord is also known for the Concord grape which was developed here.  Welch's sponsored this colorful float and a walking bunch of grapes!



 Beautiful fruits and vegetables from local farmers and greenhouses.


There were many bands and all sorts of music were represented.


 One of the more unusual was the "Senior Shakers" - a tambourine band.



There are always a few balloons that get away - but it is fun to see how high they go!


The Gentlemen Songsters, also known as The Singing Doughboys.



The League of Women Voters


Jazz in a fire truck - The New Liberty Jazz Band.


Ford Model "A" moving van - I can't imagine how many trips it would take to move us in a van this size!


The balloons looked so pretty in the sun.


The sign says "Happy 375 Birthday Concord - the Party Heard Round the World."


At the end of the parade was an enormous birthday cake - quite a sight to behold!


I hope you enjoyed this trip to the parade with me.  I have several hundred photos and I am challenging myself to do something with them as soon as possible.  I see some digital collages in my near future..

 We are supposed to have fireworks tomorrow night - keeping our fingers crossed that the rain will stay away.  I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

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18 comments:

  1. Looks like an amazing day! TFS all your photos.

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  2. What fun. I think it's wonderful to pay tribute to your heritage and history. Great pics too!

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  3. What a great way to honor the town and spend a family day. Looking forward to seeing what you do with these pictures.

    I hope you get to see the fireworks tonight!

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  4. Beautiful photos, Diane, of an awesome parade. Thanks so much for the history and interesting commentary. i feel as tho' I were there with you. Beautiful day for a great tribute...

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  5. What a wonderful day! Your pictures are fabulous - thanks for sharing them with us!

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  6. Wow what a parade. It looks like an absolutely beautiful day too. I can't wait to see your collages.
    Sue

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  7. What a great parade, 375 years is a birthday of substantial size :D. I don't think I've ever seen that many unicylists in one place before. TFS!

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  8. What a wonderful parade! I enjoyed your pictures very much. I look forward to seeing some awesome scrapbook pages.

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  9. Thank you Diane for sharing your beautiful photos and comments!!! I love hometown parades, there is nothing like them. We used to have one every September here in our small town of Hephzibah, no more :(. It wasn't anything fancy, but a fun day.

    I have to add, I especially love the parades in towns where there is so much history! To me the East coast is and the original colonies is so fascinating (I'm originally from WA state). Our nations history is so interesting to me, and love being so close to places where so much had happened.

    I hope you get your fireworks tonight!!!!

    Hugs!
    LisaRN499

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  10. I live in FL now but grew up in a small New England town that used to hold celebrations like this...I sure do miss it this time of year...thank you so much for sharing!

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  11. Thank you so much for sharing these photos with us. It looks like it was a wonderful parade. Although it fell on a day when most of America was mourning a great tragedy, we must also remember that the victims of 9/11 and those lost in Iraq and Afghanistan gave their lives so that the rest of can enjoy our heritage and communities. Continuing with the parade honors them more, in my opinion. Thanks again.

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  12. Diane
    Thanks for sharing such a wonderful day with us.
    Celebrating on 9/11 just shows what good stuff we are made of and that we can overcome many obstacles, even one that devastating.
    Myrna

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  13. Thanks for sharing all those photos. Oh how neat, an old fashioned parade in an east coast town. Gosh I would have loved to have been there!

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  14. What a beautiful blue sky! looks like the town had a stunning parade, and its looks like you had a wonderful time!
    Thanks for sharing~ Shantaie

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  15. Thanks for sharing your pictures. I felt like I was there. What a history your town has, and it's good to see that everyone enjoys celebrating it.

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  16. Great photos and a nice day. I love living here in MA - so much history.

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  17. Looks like you had a wonderful time, love the photo's.
    Kim xXx

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  18. Looks like you had a great parade to watch. Now you've got me humming the Music Man in my head too!

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