Loyalty parade pix

This last week was Loyalty Days week here, which is a holiday that celebrates the flag and other "all-American" sort of things. You can read about the history of the holiday HERE Basically, it was started in the '20s as a counterbalance to Labor Day, which was perceived as communist. Apparently Long Beach has the longest continually recognized celebration in the US.
There is a variety of events that take place, but the big ones are the kids parade in Ilwaco on Saturday and the big parade through Long Beach on Sunday.
You can see a gallery of pix from the two HERE
Here are some pix I liked from over the weekend:

This is by far my favorite shot from the weekend, and the funny thing is I didn't even realize all the elements as they were taking place. I saw the mother and two kids with the matching flag jackets and kinda hung out beside and behind them for a few minutes. As the tractor guys were coming through I started shooting like this but didn't see what the guy on the tractor was doing until my edit. I love surprises like this. Click on the pic to get a better look.

At one point during the big parade I went up in the Long Beach Fire Dept. bucket truck to get some aerial-type shots and saw this kid sleeping on the grass in one of the little downtown park areas just off the parade route. I call this one "Parade Malaise."

The Astoria Clowns at the Kid's Parade Saturday.

I also shot a feature on the IHS marching band — you can watch an audio slideshow from the story HERE

Here are some of the pix I liked from the story:






While practicing on Friday the band marched out to the highway to get some practice time on a real street


As we got to the end of the route it was discovered that trumpeter Andy Schott had been carrying on with a bum heel after his shoe rubbed it raw early in the route, so Jason Huntley carried him briefly as his other bandmates give him a round of applause. Check out the Curt Schilling-esque bloody sock!

-DKM