changing traditions

The main event of Saturday at the Apple Blossom Festival is the Grand Feature Parade. Like the Fireman's Parade, its pretty long. But its more your traditional parade of bands, floats, beauty queens of every imaginable kind, and lots of people that no one seems to know waving from cars. While there were still Confederate flags on a couple units in the parade as well as on the midway on the downtown mall, the festival also had its first black queen in Qui Rice, daughter of 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice. (The festival queen is always a celebrity or celebrity's daughter, not a pageant winner.) Some of the best groups were the Latin marching dance groups from places like Honduras and Bolivia. I don't remember those when I was a kid. Like many parades, the best sights often come from the crowd. We had a pair of little girls in front of us who showed signs of being future majorettes each time a band went by. After the parade, we hiked down to the midway downtown and wandered among the vendors and games. Dad declared the prices too high for his traditional elephant ear. Maybe next year. By this morning, the scene in front of the house looked as if nothing had ever happened.