Posted
on July 4, 2013
A
whole lot of homemade floats, each with a boom box tuned to WILI-AM
radio. The townspeople lining the streets. And ka-boom, easy as that,
a charming tradition is born!
Way
back in 1986, the people of Windham / Willimantic, CT, couldn't find
a marching band to appear in their Memorial Day Parade. They couldn't
let that happen to their Independence Day Parade, could they?
One
family suggested that everyone participating in the parade could
bring a boom box, and the local radio station could play
parade-appropriate music. This worked out so well that locals decided
not to even try to lure marching bands to their parade. Instead, they
offered the world the one and only Boom Box Parade. To this date, it
is the largest parade without a live band!
Not
all parades are patriotic!
Many
parades, especially during a national holiday, are heavy on the
flag-waving, and many feature military personnel and even tanks! In
the U.S., there is a whole lot of red-white-and-blue; other nations
tend to feature their own patriotic colors, such as orange for the
Netherlands, or yellow-and-blue for Sweden.
But
not all parades are nationalistic. I've talked about the Rose Parade, a St. Patrick's Day parade, the Junkanoo Parade, the Battle of Flowers parade. I've mentioned
amazing, flamboyant parades for Mardi Gras and Carnival and
parades with giant puppets for St. Joseph's Day.
Here
are some more:
Did you know that there is an annual mermaid parade in
Coney Island, NYC? 
There are lots more weird and wonderful parades in
the world. If there are none in your town, start a tradition!
Also
on this date:
Indivisible Day 
Fourth of July
AKA Independence Day in the USA Plan ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest pages on July
holidays, historical
anniversaries in July,
and July
birthdays.
And
here are my Pinterest pages on August
holidays, historical
anniversaries in August,
and August
birthdays.
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