Ferguson: Northern Lights Christmas

Northern Lights Christmas Market, Ferguson, Missouri. November 2017.

On the Sunday following Thanksgiving, Ferguson holds its Northern Lights Christmas Market and Parade. This is also when one can buy tickets to the Ferguson Christmas Home Tour.

Northern Lights Christmas Parade, Ferguson, Missouri. November 2017.

After a nature-infused weekend with family members in the Ozarks Scenic Riverways here and here, I hied home early Sunday so I could grab tickets for me and my mom for the Christmas Home Tour and also to see the parade that night!

Northern Lights Christmas Parade, Ferguson, Missouri. November 2017.

Northern Lights Christmas Parade, Ferguson, Missouri. November 2017.

Northern Lights Christmas Parade, Ferguson, Missouri. November 2017.

One of several videos here, a children's dance troupe:

And, as always, I swoon over drums:

But I was besotted with this crazy-creative moving train table, operated at the Christmas Market by one of Santa's helpers!

El Paso: Black History Parade

El Paso Black History Parade, El Paso, Texas. February 2017.

February 25, 2017


The sky was a blue that spoke of Delft candles, blue plate specials, true blue.

It was the day of El Paso's Black History Parade. The link to the left has better photos than I do. Take a look there.

El Paso Black History Parade, El Paso, Texas. February 2017.

Wiggly-waggly china berries distracted me on the way to the parade.


A gentleman bore a magnificent cane.

El Paso Black History Parade, El Paso, Texas. February 2017.

Princesses and queens presided over things, waving to appreciative subjects along the sidelines. A tender quote from a pageant contestant, Desiree Anderson, via KVIA: "This is a great opportunity to love ourselves."

I saw a number of Junior ROTC units.

El Paso Black History Parade, El Paso, Texas. February 2017.

El Paso Black History Parade, El Paso, Texas. February 2017.

In fact, there was such a strong presence of military youth units, it provoked questions about recruiting disproportionately low-income students of color as cannon fodder.

But is that necessarily true?

2014: The Poverty Draft? Exploring the Role of Socioeconomic Status in U.S. Military Recruitment of Hispanic Students. A small study that focuses on high school students in the Rio Grande Valley. Authors: Jessica Lavariega Monforti and Adam McGlynn.

2013: Uncle Sam Wants Who? From Foreign Policy. Author: Rosa Brooks.


Also, El Paso has several military bases around it, therefore, a large military population that includes active, inactive, and retired folks.

So maybe it's logical that there'd be such a large visual presence of Junior ROTC units at the Black History Parade.

But just to be contrarian, I did also notice that the majority of the girls in the student military units didn't carry guns; gun-carrying fell almost exclusively to the boys.

I even asked one of the Junior ROTC advisors, in effect, "Why do so few girls carry guns"?

His first response was to correct me on my use of the word "guns" and to use "rifles" instead. And then he added something about how, well, they're working on that, or something.


A slide show below:

El Paso: The Thanksgiving Parade, Part 3: Moving

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade 2016, El Paso, Texas.

A few years ago, when I started posting marching bands and other parade units onto my Youtube channel, I noticed that members of these units found them and, presumably, enjoyed them. I have come to see these videos as a service, especially to high school students.

In the Riverside High School video below, I smile each time I watch the local news crew march alongside, starting around 0:38:

The movies are a moving snapshot of a moment in the students' lives that they can view as often as they wish, even some day showing their future beloveds.

I laugh out loud every time I watch this Ysleta High School video - at 0:25:

Of course, many parents also shot videos, but if their parents are like most casual photographers, those videos might be looked at a few times on the parents' phones - and maybe a Facebook post - but otherwise, I suspect they slip silently into a virtual shoe box in a corner of a dim closet.

How can I not share the El Paso High School Drum Corps warm up here:

And, gosh, isn't it kinda cool when someone other than your family films you? I mean, your family has to like you.


Here's Andress High School Marching Band, with a bit of drum work that turns my head, literally:

In this post, I highlight only a few of the 2016 El Paso Thanksgiving Parade videos. But if you cannot get enough of hometown parades, no worries, there are 27 of them (!) over here.

El Paso: The Thanksgiving Parade, Part 2: The People

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

I took tons of photos of the El Paso Thanksgiving Parade, but I've tossed all of them except those in which people are the centers.

Danza de San Juan. El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

 
There's something special when a person looks straight at me and, forever caught by the camera, there is that wide smile or the model-pose or a slip of a smile or a contemplative, steady gaze or a simple, frank acknowledgement from one person to another. A namaste.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

Every time I look up at the girl on the right, in her sunshine-y shirt, I can't help but smile back. Then I look at the little girl on the left, next to the boy, and I look steadily into her eyes and I wonder about her spirit within.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

There's something Rockwellian about the photo below, a mom, maybe, taking a picture of her daughter, who's engrossed in what's on her phone. Maybe a text from a boy she's crushing on. The anchoring of place(s): El Paso. Anthony. The USA. Space.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

Then below is the real and the pretend, and the present moment awaiting the future one, the look to the distance, off to the side, a man perhaps thinking, wondering, planning, remembering.

Lucha libre. El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

And below are three playlets on one stage, each unfolding simultaneously, a medley:

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

El Paso's mayor. Pausing. The mountain citizen in the back. Baptism.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

Three Texas lawmen.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

The affable, home town newsies.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

A slide show here:

El Paso: The [Insert Corporate Sponsor Here] Parade, Part 1

Thanksgiving Parade 2016, El Paso, Texas. November 2016.

El Paso has a huge parade on Thanksgiving. Under normal circumstances, I would call it El Paso's Thanksgiving Parade, but that's not what it is. Although, to be fair, it's not what it's not, either.

The official name is the First Light Federal Credit Union Sun Bowl Parade [Brought to You on Thanksgiving Day, oh right, and in El Paso].  Sometimes called the Sun Bowl Parade for short, even though the Sun Bowl is a month after the parade.

The above caused me no end of consternation when I arrived, trying to find the connection between the Sun Bowl (which actually occurs in December), and the Parade Not Called Thanksgiving But Which Happens on Thanksgiving. Because I intended to go, I wanted to be sure to go on the right date and the right place.

Once I got things sorted, I was ready to go! And it was a marvel to be within walking distance of such a huge event (some sources say a quarter of a million people attend the parade), so no parking logistics to worry about.

Thanksgiving Parade 2016, El Paso, Texas. November 2016.

It was a big parade, so I'm going to roll it out over several posts.

Below a video of one of the opening units:

Henceforward, I'll refer to it as the El Paso Thanksgiving Parade, as it should be. 

Thanksgiving Parade 2016, El Paso, Texas. November 2016.

Louisiana: My Second Mardi Gras Parade

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

In my first year in South Louisiana, once I cut my Mardi Gras teeth on the equivalent of a "bunny slope" at a ski resort - the Carencro Mardi Gras Parade - it was time to have a go at a big-time spectacle.

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

That would be the Church Point Mardi Gras Parade.

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

The parade starts around 1:00 p.m. I'm no novice to parades, and I like to find decent parking, scope out my parade-watching spot, put a claim on it, and then go wander. I arrived at Church Point, I don't know, about 9:30 or 10:00 a.m.

Hohohoho, what a neophyte I was! At first, after I'd parked my car (wasn't too terrible finding a place), and walked over to the main drag, I thought maybe I had my times wrong. I saw one older woman sitting in a chair right next to the main street. Just sitting. I asked her when the parade was going to start, and she said, "Oh, about 1:00." I asked how long she'd been there. "About 9:00," she replied. Holy moly.

I walked down the street, away from the commercial area and toward a more residential area. I saw a line of decorated Mardi Gras trailers, with people walking between and around them. Maybe some of them, to describe it more accurately, were weaving a bit between and around the trailers. They all seemed very happy.

Some people had parked flatbed trailers along the parade route and populated these with chairs.

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

More than one had a personal porta-potty.


I found a decent spot, and as time passed, pleasant neighbors joined me. I would discover later that one of my woman neighbors was gifted in the ways of cajoling jello shots from the parade participants.

Before the parade began, a headache invaded my good vibes. At first, I fretted about this because I rarely get headaches. But then I remembered. 

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

The parade start time is "around 1:00 p.m. because it depends on the return of the courir de mardi gras riders from their traditional countryside search for chickens. (I posted this introduction to the courir de mardi gras a few years ago. Unfortunately, Pat Mire's excellent Dance for a Chicken, which is a documentary about the origins and traditions of the courir de mardi gras is no longer available for public viewing).

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

Drinking mass quantities of alcohol on horseback is part of the tradition.

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

The Church Point Mardi Gras Parade is long, long, sha. But so entertaining.

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

A slide show of the parade below:

2014 Church Point Mardi Gras Parade. Church Point, Louisiana.

Louisiana: My First Mardi Gras Parade

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

We've got to go back to 2014 for this one. My first Louisiana Mardi Gras Parade. It was in Carencro. I introduced it here, promising to write more about it later. Well, more than two years later, I'm keeping my promise.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

The Carencro parade was enlightening. South Louisianans know how to go to parades. The Carencro parade is more of a family parade than some of the others, and it was a good starter parade for me.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

It was at the Carencro parade that I learned just how one properly enjoys a parade.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

In the perfect scenario, you arrive early and you set up camp (literally, except for the overnighting part). 

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

You set up: 

1. Tent
2. Open bar with plenty of alcohol
3. Full-size grill
4. At least one table for the forthcoming feast
5. Multiple chairs
6. Sound system + music for before the parade
7. Porta-potty
8. Efficient receptacles for beads and candy collection 

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

 

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

 I was a little taken aback at the competitiveness of catching the beads. Not that I didn't get into the spirit of it pretty quickly myself.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

 And then it's over.

Carencro Mardi Gras Parade, Carencro, Louisiana. February 2014.

Louisiana: Opelousas: A Holy Ghost Parade 2015

Holy Ghost Creole Festival Parade, Opelousas High School Marching Band, Opelousas, Louisiana. November 2015.

In 2014, I went to the Holy Ghost Creole Festival for the first time.

I went again in 2015. Today's post is all about the Holy Ghost Creole Festival Parade.

Holy Ghost Creole Festival Parade, Opelousas High School Marching Band, Opelousas, Louisiana. November 2015.

I just smile thinking about this day, looking at these photos. A beautiful, proud-ful day of gladness to be alive. How can you not be happy when there are marching bands?

And soft smiles?

Holy Ghost Creole Festival Parade, Opelousas, Louisiana. November 2015.

Here's a slide show with kickin' music from the United States Army Fife and Drum Corps:

Smile with me.