Hometown Memorial Day Parade - Part 2

This is part 2 of the Rensselaer, NY Memorial Day parade which marched right past my front door. It was such a striking piece of Americana that I was moved by it and wanted to share it. This first photo is looking north from my house as a marching band passes in front of the Methodist Church:

That's my red car parked in front of my house:

The "Red Caps" marched by playing music:



This group stopped and halted all the paraders behind them while those in front of them marched on. This created a big gap in the parade and I found it irritating until I realized that this was the Girl's Softball League and all the moms were trying to get their little girls into place and to keep marching, a bit like herding cats, I'll wager:

When they finally started up again with moms walking along the sidelines, I realized why they were such a favorite. They had a "cute factor" of 10:

I had 3 photos of these kids but was unable to delete any of them. They were just too adorable:

And more red, white and blue. In this case, mostly red and white:

This fife and drum corps seemed perfectly appropriate for the historic town of Rensselaer, the traditional home of the song, "Yankee Doodle." That tile roof stone house behind them is, I've been told, quite historic and was once a major stop along the Underground Railroad:


A float with a sign reading "They Held Guns And Won Our Freedom:"

And as the float got closer, I saw the young lady in white adjusting her fake beard and mustache. This got me wondering who she was supposed to be. Jesus, maybe? I never did figure it out:

All the local ambulances passed by. If someone was going to have a heart attack or heat stroke, this parade would have been the place to do it:

I've got one more post of photos and videos from the Memorial Day parade and will post it tomorrow.