Hometown Memorial Day Parade - Part 3

This is part 3 and the last of the Memorial Day parade posts. The parade took place on Sunday, May 30th, in Rensselaer, New York, the traditional home of the song, "Yankee Doodle." The parade was a genuine piece of small town Americana and brought tears to many eyes:

Many, perhaps most of the floats, bands and marchers were unknown to me. But the traditions, the color, the enthusiasm, the patriotism, the heartfelt emotions were all a real part of Memorial Day parades all over the country:
This was apparently a drum corps from Rensselaer Middle High School with cheerleaders. I don't know why there were no brass instruments:


On and on the marchers and floats kept coming:

If you click to enlarge this, you'll see that one of these marchers is a man in a dog costume. I have no idea why but I liked it anyway:

This was a marching band which brought back lots of memories from my days as a trombonist in my high school band:



The firetrucks were at the end of the parade and represented the cities/towns of Rensselaer, East Greenbush, Clinton Heights and Defreetsville, New York:

They were apparently arranged by color - first the red ones, then the yellow ones:

As the last of the firetrucks passed by me, I turned and looked back up the street toward my house. That man in the red plaid shirt and baseball cap is my next-door neighbor who has had a heart transplant and was released from the hospital just yesterday. He was happier to be home and prouder of his country than just about anybody:

But the groups of friends, relatives and neighbors stayed around and, in some instances, turned the parade gathering into a party:

and this is Lexy, my neighbor's dog. She is so happy to finally have him home again that she was beside herself. Man and dog reunited, a happy day for both of them and a good day for a hometown Memorial Day parade:

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.

Hometown Memorial Day Parade - Part 1

It was Sunday, May 30th, 2010. Memorial Day is always on a Monday now, but for a great deal of my life the holiday has always been on May 30th, which also happened to be my birthday. So on this May 30th, I'd already been to the gym and the grocery store. I'd considered going hiking, but didn't want to miss the parade, a real life bit of Americana. So at 2:00 I went out on the front steps to catch the action:

I don't have much to say about most of these photos, but you can tell that the local politicians had themselves right up front:

Red, white and blue clothing was the order of the day:

Rensselaer is traditionally considered to be the home of the song, "Yankee Doodle." This was apparently a drum corps from Rensselaer Middle High School with cheerleaders:


And marching bands, more of them than ever before:

And another marching band:


This group was from a local American Legion Post:

Right down the main street of town, past my house and my little red car:

And a group of motor cycles, not all Harleys:

This must have been an extra fancy cycle. I couldn't tell:

Sellers of colorful balloons and trinkets marched with the parade:

And this group had a woman behind them hauling a wagon full of ice water. They were no dummies!:
I have more photos and videos to share from the parade and will present them in two more posts, one on each of the next two days.

Rensselaer, New York

Yesterday I posted photos of the southern part of the city of Rensselaer, New York, a historic city directly across the Hudson River from the city of Albany. I shot some photos and was heading home when I saw more photo opportunities for pictures which could be taken from the city park right on the shores of the Hudson. So of course I pulled in and grabbed my camera off of the car seat. Most of this small park sits beneath overhead roadways which divide traffic coming from and heading to Albany and its various attractions. The first photo I took was looking across the river from Rensselaer to Albany from under the main highway bridge in that area. As you can see, it was a fine, beautiful day:

And directly across the river I saw the Dutch Apple sightseeing cruise ship and The USS Slater, a historic World War II battleship:

Looking a bit farther south, there's the U-Haul storage building with the moving van on top:

On the shores of the Hudson, the city of Rensselaer has this small pier. This is where Pete Seeger's Clearwater and other historic wooden ships can dock. The small amphitheater allows them to give informative talks to small audiences

Looking north, I saw a barge beneath the bridge. Repairs to the bridge were being staged from there:

And downtown Albany lies directly across the river:

In this photo you can see the Dutch Apple cruise ship, the USS Slater, one of the tall buildings of the Empire State Plaza and the New York State Museum, which is that squarish building beneath the highway ramps:

And a closer view of the Albany side of the river:

I walked a bit closer to the shore to take this photo of downtown Albany:

And on the Rensselaer side of the river sits a concrete block manufacturer:

And turning my camera eastward, I could see a church steeple and the steeple of the new Amtrak station. By the way, in case you're wondering, that ramp/bridge does indeed stop in mid-air. Apparently, many years ago, they'd planned an exit ramp there but never used it. Now there's the new Amtrak station in the way so I guess the ramp will never be finished. Anyway, it was lovely day and a good time for photos: