Hopkinton, New York Summer Parade-Part 2

I was watching the Hopkinton Summer Parade (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and snapping photos as the paraders went by. This lady drove a beautifully restored antique Farmall tractor:

Nearly all the paraders threw candy to the kids, but because the route was so short, their candy stash so large and the children so few, they were throwing out double handfuls of candy. These kids had collected at least half of what had been thrown so far by the time I snapped this photo:

Step back in time, visit the Hopkinton Museum. I didn't recognize the driver until he waved. Then I recognized him as my nearest neighbor:

The local Girl Scout troop:

A local rust control business. I liked this photo because of the happy kids and dogs in the back of the truck:

An antique car:

And a pink firetruck. I've seen this at other parades and now recognize it as a tribute to breast cancer awareness. This time, however, I noticed that there were handwritten messages all over it:

The horse riders came next. The woman on the white horse is my neighbor who led a donkey in the parade the previous week for suicide prevention awareness:

And then, right behind the horses, was her son with the same donkey:

My neighbor and one of her boys, riding Abilene, the pony:

And her mom, Grandma, the owner of the local feed store, with the other two boys in the family:

I only kept a few of the many firetruck photos I took. This one was from nearby North Lawrence, New York and I thought it would be a fitting way to end this post on the parade:

Hopkinton, New York Summer Parade - Part 1

The tiny, rural town of Hopkinton, New York discontinued many of its Summer Festival events this year but the parade went on as usual. It is a short parade route but very popular. I took up a spot across from Wilber's Hardware Store as the VFW contingent marched by:

And then the firetrucks began. They were, in fact, the main part of the parade. There were trucks from Hopkinton, Fort Jackson, Norwood, Russell, North Lawrence, Lawrenceville, Parishville, Dickinson, Nicholville and the Tri-Town Coalition. How's that for area representation?:

The Tri-Town Coalition includes Stockholm, Brasher and Lawrence. They had their Summer Festival Parade the previous week:

Firetrucks galore!

Russell may have been the farthest town from Hopkinton to send a firetruck. It's still in St. Lawrence County, but then again, St. Lawrence County is the largest in New York State:

Parishville, just south of Hopkinton. The two towns share a high school:

A business/political parade entry. There is a push to get a windmill farm in the town of Hopkinton, but it is controversial:

The float in favor of windmills was mostly children, one of whom was playing the saxophone:

And several politicians were there, hoping to get their names recognized before the next election. I don't think this was the politician himself, but a local supporter:

This was a fun entry, though I never figured out what kind of group they were until I got home and Googled it. They are a dance group with local chapters all over. They sure seemed to have fun:

And they had elegant, elaborate costumes:

The Monarch Butterfly lady was especially colorful. There were more paraders, though, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Hopkinton Summer Festival Parade - Part 2

I got a better look at some of the super-hero costumes on the Deer Valley Trails restaurant contingent. They were elaborate, especially the fully feathered wings, but not being a super-hero buff, I couldn't name a single one of them:

NuMed, the only national business in the tiny town of Hopkinton, makes cardiovascular devices for people with heart problems, but especially for children with congenital heart disease:

Appropriately, NuMed's float theme was "NuMed for children" and they were accompanied by a very large contingent of marching children, many of them with their dogs:

The lawn tractor brigade:

And the Lawrenceville Baptist Chapel:

My neighbor's mother rode her handsome, prancing pinto in the parade:

And the same neighbor's children rode the schoolhouse float for the Hopkinton Historical Society:

Sand Hill Stables, in nearby St. Regis Falls, had a large group of horses and riders:

There were classic cars:

And old tractors:

And more classic cars:

The Parishville ATV Club was toward the rear of the parade, followed only by more firetrucks and ambulances. It was a small but enthusiastic parade and lots of fun. Everyone was friendly and it really did seem to bring the community together:

Hopkinton Summer Festival Parade - Part 1

It was time for the town of Hopkinton's annual Summer Festival Parade, so I drove down to the village green and parked. I noticed that the sign was still up, celebrating the town's bicentennial in 2002:

A country band was setting up inside the gazebo, where they'd provide live music when the parade was over. The air smelled of hot dogs, hamburgers and sausages being grilled for the shindig:

I walked around the village green, where there were only four buildings. I noticed that the church had new, golden trim and for the first time I noticed its bell tower. I've never heard the bell sounding on Sunday mornings, but I probably live too far away:

The museum building was well kept and I began thinking it was time for me to pay it another visit:

There were games for young and old set up behind the town office building:

And porta-potties set up in front of the town office building:

The town court building was the fourth and final building on the square. I walked past it and headed out to the highway to watch the parade:

I found myself a shady place from which to watch the parade and noticed others lining up along both sides of the road, including this Amish man and his horse:

Firetrucks from a number of nearby towns led the parade:

And the first float was for breast cancer awareness and included a pink lawn tractor:

This man was all alone and seemed enormously pleased that I took his picture:

Deer Valley Trails, a restaurant/watering hole set far, far back in the Adirondack forest, once again marched as super-heroes, though I couldn't name a single one of them. I did notice that they were different costumes than last year. But the parade was just getting started. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Part 2, Hopkinton Summerfest Antique Tractor Pull

This is Part Two of the Hopkinton Summerfest antique tractor pull. As I did yesterday, I'll again post the photos without comment: