December 12, 2010: Christmas Parades!

This has been a most interesting and fun Christmas Parade season. Friends of Bock, Petty and Stewart had plans to put together a parade float and they invited Sally and me to ride with them. Sally had some scheduling conflicts, so I decided to meet them at the parade. From participating in Chatham parades over the past 6 years, I think our citizens like and expect their commissioner to be in their parades…and I enjoy them!

Our first parade was in Siler City at 7 pm on Friday, Dec 2^nd. Commissioners are usually lined up just behind the Town Board, but I didn’t see any sign of them. I walked around looking for them and finally found them about 5 blocks from the Police Department. The float was the fine effort of the Chatham Republican Women and I thought OMG – if I get on this thing, the rumors will fly!

Well there wasn’t a Democratic Women’s float…this was it and I climbed onboard. Everyone was very nice to me and all enjoyed some ribbing at my expense. I did say I wasn’t super comfortable being the only ass on the float! The parade was quite enjoyable. Citizens were friendly, the night was cold and the Christmas decorations were very festive. Thank you, Siler City!

Our second parade was the next day, Saturday, in Goldston at 11 am. To my great surprise, my hosts had managed to bring a live miniature donkey named Radar and physically lifted him up on the flo at. The comment I most remember in the excitement was “here you are, this float is about Unity!”. Now I was comfortable. Radar and I were representing the Democrats on the Republican Unity float and I was no longer the only ass up there! Goldston also had a very good parade with lots of friendly citizens enjoying the festivities. Thank you, Goldston!

Our third parade was again the next day, Sunday, in Pittsboro at 3 pm. It was quite cold and breezy, but lots of people showed up anyway. To my pleasure, Radar also returned to keep me company on the float and the Republican Women had added a sign on top of the chimney that read “+ Commissioner Mike Cross”. I very much appreciated that touch.

PBO has a rather long parade and there were folks everywhere. Candy was flying, everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves and the truth is…once they saw Radar…the rest of us didn’t seem to matter. He clearly stole the show!

PBO once again held a great parade. Thank you, Pittsboro!

Our fourth and last parade was held in Bennett on Saturday, Dec.11 at 4 pm. That day was cold, breezy and it rained lightly all day. We thought the parade was in question. The citizens of Bennett are a hardy bunch and a little rain wasn’t about to stop their Christmas Parade. Everyone decided the float decorations wouldn’t do well in the rain, so I pulled out my old magnetic signs and we rode in my car.

It wasn’t the same, but it surely was more comfortable. I wanted to put Radar in the back seat, but he seemed to need a bathroom every time the parade started moving, so better judgement prevailed. Although many sat in their cars and trucks to view the parade, some stood out in the drizzle and were apparently enjoying themselves anyway.

The parade went on and a fine parade it was. Thank you, Bennett!

My sincere thanks and appreciation go out to all who make Chatham a county of Christmas Parades and a special thanks to my UNITY hosts!