Sunday, September 27, 2009

A triumphant Amherst Anniversary Parade

Glad they did not try to put 250 candles on her
Legion and VFW Color Guard leads off
Parade Co-Grand Marshals Barry Roberts, Stephen Puffer, Stan Ziomek
Amherst Animal Control officer Carol Hepburn
Congressman John Olver (serving almost all 250 years now)
There's still time to hit the Big-E
A dancing bear (gotta wonder if it was Cinda Jones)
Old fashioned Undertaker
Dickinson Museum has back to back PR success
Blogging Guru Tommy Devine and friends from the Amherst Survival Center
Gotta have clowns

The Amherst 250th Parade Committee must have channelled Moses as the steady rains parted and gloomy grey skies cleared just long enough for almost the entire 1.5 hour Parade to amble thru town center with all the pomp and circumstance of a Big City parade but that unmistakable feel of a good old fashioned Rockwell small town affair.
Umass Marching Band with Superstar conductor George Parks
Caballos de Paso the dancing horses of Puerto Rico
Those funny men and their flying little machines

17 comments:

Jared Stenquist said...

Larry - did you snap a photo of the Budweiser Tractor Trailer in the parade. There must have been more than a few people wondering what it was doing in line.

Anonymous said...

Where was the float of the indians coughing up blood as they died of smallpox from Lord Jeffrey Amherst's terrible gift of infected blankets?

Anonymous said...

that is not true

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah Jared, I was a tad disappointed that the Clydesdales (the Tractor trailer is their support vehicle) did make the Parade --probably in their contract that they do not march in the rain.

Ry Willey said...

Larry,
Word has it the Clydesdales did not march due to the fact that when the reins get wet the driver has difficulty driving the team. Reins are made from leather and leather is slippery when wet.

Great pics and video of the parade.

Larry Kelley said...

Hey Ry,
Yeah I kinda figured that; but as you well know, A LOT OF HORSES (many of them draft horses) DID march.

I just hope the town did not pay them a ton of money (the corporation already got their moneys worth in PR from the Thursday night delivery of beer to downtown establishments plus the Front Page above the fold photo in this week's Amherst Bully.)

Ed said...

Where was the float of the indians coughing up blood as they died of smallpox from Lord Jeffrey Amherst's terrible gift of infected blankets?

I researched this. He THOUGHT about doing it, mentioned his thoughts in a letter to a friend, but he did not DO it. Kind of like how I THOUGHT about winding rocks through the windows of various homes on Lincoln Avenue in response to the Apartied Blockade, but I did not DO it....

Of course, you also need to understand three things. First, the microbe theory of disease didn't yet exist. So he essentially was thinking about "evil spirits" and the belief that the blankets were somehow likely to cause death (which, they were).

Second, the indians were no nicer. They would do things like skin someone alive within sight of a fort but just beyond the limited range of the rifles of the day. Watching a friend (or family member) being killed in such a manner -- that goes beyond inhuman.

And third, the Pequats are still here, the British didn't kill them all. By contrast, the Pomtocks are extinct, the Mohawks *DID* kill all of them...

Enough said?

Ed said...

You know, I was hoping for a thunderstorm.

I was hoping for a Samuel Adams treatment of the town mangler - and for those of you who don't know, Sam Adams was killed by lighting.

Larry Kelley said...

He wasn't there (still recovering).

Anonymous said...

I heard that the clydesdales had a hard time on the newly paved road when they did the beer delivery and it would have been even more unsafe with the wet conditions. To slick to have control.

cinda said...

Yes I was bear in parade. :)

Larry Kelley said...

We could tell by the shake, rattle and roll!

Anonymous said...

Cinda, you were great!

Anonymous said...

big floppys and snaggletooth bear

Fiona said...

The Town and/or 250th committee didn't pay for the Clydesdales - Williams Distributors and R&P Liquors sponsored their appearance. Ryan is correct in letting you know why they unfortunately chose not to march.

The video and photos are smashing, thanks for posting these

Anonymous said...

Actually Jeff Amhearst knew exactly what he was doing when he instructed the men to infect the Native Americans. It's called Genocide. Do the research. However, at the end of the day, no matter what history clearly shows, you'll stay call it a lie. At least God is watching all of this and keeping account.

http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/amherst/lord_jeff.html

Larry Kelley said...

God is the ultimate blogger.

I DID do the research. Lord Jeff never ordered "the men to infect the Native Americans.'