People and parades

The parade is over. From the time the first police car passed until the final float was right at 2 hours. The parade route is between 2 and 3 miles. There were about 100 entries. Parades bring out the best in people. Home town pride and such. But it also brings out some bad characters.

1. Why can't we have a no smoking section? I'm not one of those people who try to ban smoking everywhere. But I would love to enjoy a parade without having smoke in my eyes.

2. Why do people sit for more than an hour waiting for a parade to start, and then pack up and leave before it's over? My momma taught me to stay to the end. The last "amen". The last note of the "Alma Mater" (in my high school, the band played this at the end of a game--win or lose). But people started packing up about half way through the parade. Maybe their family member had already passed. Maybe they needed to find a bathroom. But there were only about 10% of the crowd left when the final floats (including my company's) passed by.

3. Why don't people understand that "road closed" applies to them? We were sitting in a business parking lot with many other people. There were a lot of little kids running around. The road divided, and unlike last years, the parade went down the other lane of traffic. So they lane in front of us was empty. About an hour into the parade, someone in a big truck decided to make a run for it. She drove down the road while the parade continued. I didn't realize what she was doing until it was too late. But I made it my mission to make sure nobody else tried it. And of course someone tried. I stood in the middle of the driveway and blocked her. I tried asking her to go around. My hubby saw what was happening and came to lend his support. The woman got quite angry, so I called 911. I explained that the woman was insisting on driving on the road even though it was closed. Then I headed over to where I saw a police officer. After I left, she honked, flipped my husband off, and backed up. Just before the parade ended another car tried to come out. This time we didn't say anything. We just stood our ground. When the last floats were in sight, a motorcycle cop parked in front of the entrance. We thanked him and started packing up. He sat there until the police cars leading the traffic were almost there. But there was so much traffic that she had to wait at least 5 minutes to pull out. It would have been faster to go around.

4. Why do people leave such a mess behind? As we drove down Main Street (yes, we have a Main Street, and yes, it really is THE main street in town) there was trash everywhere.