parading

When I was growing up, Colorado Springs was a small city (it's not anymore) and Manitou Springs was tiny. Manitou is...up (please--did you really expect a cardinal direction from me?) from Co. Spgs. It is such a small town that when we were growing up their parades did not include any horses. There was no budget for clean-up.

A parade in Colorado is not a parade if it's horseless. So, the Manitou parade folk decided to let local children be the horses. They could dress up in any horse-like ensemble they wanted and be in the parade. One year, my sister and I were in the parade. I wish I could post pictures of that for you. I know there are pictures of it because we were in the paper--but I don't have them. Trust me--we were so cute. I know we marched along and there were other kids on bikes and in stollers. There were bands playing, people waving from convertibles and spectators lining the streets. We were part of the parade.

Here in Russia, there are many, many parades.Every holiday gets a parade. But, the parades are not a group effort (except for Victory Day when everyone turns out). Parades here are one group of people marching. They might get a police escort before and after, but generally life just goes on around them. There are no crowds lining the streets. They parade simply for themselves. I find this a little odd.

Last week there was a parade outside my window. When I called a friend to ask why, she told me it as "some military day". It was a bigger parade than ususal--they'd blocked off the street and more people were involved. This parade lasted about four minutes. Below are some photos for your enjoyment. Didn't want to let this parade pass you by...