Labour Day Parade

True to my word I am getting back to the Parade which was postponed because of Hurricane Irene until today.  Originally the town postponed it to 10am today but agreed to change the time to 2pm when the churches approached them explaining they all have their worship services around that time.  Several congregations actually have floats in the parade.  Maybe that's how we can raise our profile and boost our own numbers; have Bob and Ron, our session, up on the back of a ute, some gospel music blaring, a bass guitar perhaps, maybe a few good jokes at the expense of Reformed folk!

.  We played it safe and handed out helium balloons with a card attached about our church, to passers by.  There were plenty.  The annual parade is the biggest in CT we are told.  It lasted for well over an hour with every community group, organization, business, etc you could imagine.  This is one patriotic town.  The parade began with a lovely rendition of the National Anthem in its entirety after the huge flag you see above was unfurled by about 50 volunteers to which hundreds of people stood solemnly bar a few unruly children.  There were a few WWII era fighter planes that flew over during the parade.  Revolutionary and civil war re-enacters fired off volleys periodically as they walked down the parade route frightening the wits out of dogs, children, even me.  In my defense, if one is busy blowing up balloons, or attaching string etc, one is unaware of when the volleys will be fired.  Comprenez-vous?