Lilac Parade

Since moving to Rochester 10 years ago I have been looking for a good parade.  Rochester does a lot of things well, which is why we live here.  Parades are not one of those things.  The biggest problem is that most of the high schools around here have orchestras, not marching bands.  The marching bands make the parade.  I did my time in the high school marching band and want to be able to appreciate it as a spectator (granted, I was last chair clarinet and only pretended to play when we marched in parades.  What?  Shocked?  Don't be, my band teacher loathed me.  The feeling was mutual.).

Anyway, a friend recommended the opening parade for the Lilac Festival.  So off we went.  It did not disappoint.  The flowers were lovely.

While we waited for the parade to start the kids and Scott stumbled across a little spot where a large tree created a kind of fort.

The tree was really cool.  Old and big with gnarly branches.

Perfect for riding.  We'll be visiting this tree again on our next visit to Highland Park.

It started to sprinkle a bit but the weather held for the parade.  Poor Adam is wearing a hand-me-down raincoat from a friend.  I am pretty sure it's a girls coat.  I guess it's a good thing he's not yet at a point in his life to care about such things.
 

Jane loved all of it.  Her favorite were the "princesses", also known as "Miss (fill in the blank with any number of pageant titles) ".  I'm not sure how to feel about her early fascination with beauty.  I about threw up in my mouth when "Miss Barbie Rochester" came by waving out the sunroof of an SUV which I am pretty sure was being driven by her mother.  Just what every mother wants for her daughter, to be a sexist, unintelligent and unrealistic stereotype of womanhood.  Nice.  Moving on.

All in all the parade was awesome.  Marching bands abound as well as floats and those guys in the tall hats that drive the go-carts in fun configurations.  Love those guys.

Jane, forever my rule tester, loved walking down the middle of the road without holding anyone's hand.  This picture is actually a perfect metaphor for her personality. 

Verdict?  Go to the Lilac Parade.  It's the best I've see so far, except for the Wo-Zha-Wa Parade in my hometown, it was awesome, but that may be a bit far.  And don't ask me what Wo-Zha-Wa means.  I have no idea.