Monday, July 2, 2012

Who's Up For A Celebration

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a parade . Bright blue skies and a perfect cooling breeze. 
Crowds,  decked out in red , tended to cluster on the shady side of the street.But a fraction of the crowd out for  Santa .
Sharing notes and memories,, it seems the parade is but  a shadow of  former glory. 
Missing was community participation.
Were it not for outside participation it would have been a small show.
Six years ago, staff reported to Council insufficient interest to  bring a parade to-gether.
You can't buy excitement, enthusiasm and willingness to work until the wee small hours to create magic from imagination. 
I thought of the children years ago. 
Decorated bicycles. doll prams and strollers. 
Theme costumes Funny, dramatic.on wide-eyed toddlers.
Baton twirlers. Dancers,  Acrobats. Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.
Float competitions  in umpteen categories.
They were spectacular.
The work  represented  many hands. Finished scant hours before . 
It had to be that way.
At the heart of it, a handful who knew how to generate fun and excitement. 
It was so  successful a  Santa Claus Parade was launched.. 
It was hoped town  commerce would take that over.
I feared  two parades a year were too many.
It's too much to expect. Town employees,who were also residents, were the vanguard of the volunteers.
Enthusiasm and  eagerness to excel are not  commodities..
Council  is planning to celebrate   sesquicentennial next year.
People should be talking about it in neighborhoods now.
Sponsors need to be solicited.. Budgets set. 
Don't be waiting for plans to get through the bureacracy.
Do it now. 
There should be skateboard gladiators.
Field bike warriors.
Singers,  dancers who spin on  hands or heads, cartwheel turners and children by the score. 
In costume, riding decorated bicycles, tricycles,carriages and carts 
Maybe the route should be around the town park instead of Yonge Street. 
Exhibitions held  in front of the band stand and prizes awarded with fanfare.and price of admission,  wearing  a costume or a beard grown to significance. 
Maybe at some point in the celebration a  doubledecker train filled with Aurora Revellers could take us  to Toronto and back  Colored paper streamers floating from the  windows and the whistle blowing all the way. 
This post is not intended as a criticism of  Sunday's parade.I'm sure everyone  there enjoyed it
It's more like reminiscing about how things used to be and how they need to be again to make the sesquicentennial a meaningful event. 
   

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