Today’s highlight would have to be the parade in the next town. In my book, that is not necessarily a great highlight, but opinions may vary. Being the Cubmaster for our Cub Scout Pack, I had a front row seat for the parade as I marched in it with the boy. I guess that makes things a bit more interesting.
Can you tell I’m not a huge parade enthusiast?
Thankfully, we’ve got members of the Pack who are enthusiastic about parades and they did a nice job of organizing and putting together a float. This year, we had a Pinewood Derby car as the center piece, along with a few thousand lights wrapped around it. It wouldn’t have qualified for race day because of weight, but it made for a nice float.
I arrived with the boy on the early side expecting to have to help with setup. The reality was everything was basically ready to go, except for our Pack flag which I forgot to bring along. A quick ride home and back fixed that. When I returned, a camera crew had shown up offering to let us record a quick spot to promote Scouting. It was one of those moments where leadership had its disadvantages. I made the most of it though.
The Scouts were all antsy by the time the parade started. Quite a few of them had been sitting around for a couple of hours. The nice thing about them being with each other is they all take turns entertaining each other. We have a good crew of kids so they never got too out of control. They were all relieved when the floats in front of us finally started rolling.
The hardest part of the parade is the candy. In past years we’ve had the Scouts hand out the candy. They typically get left far behind and end up running and sprinting to catch up. So this year, we started with the parents handing out candy, of which I was one. I turned to the crowd and saw a group of kids with candy bags, so I headed over and handed out a bunch. When I turned around, our float was gone. Whoever was setting the pace was definitely keeping it on the fast side. I continued to hand out candy as best I could, but I had to skip a lot of people in order to finally catch back up with our float.
By that point, we hit the main drag through town and a bunch of the Scouts wanted to hand out candy. So they hopped off and got to it. While they were doing that, I stopped to say hello to the lass and the Wife, who were both in the crowd. The lass got some candy and a kiss. The Wife just got some candy.
I gave up my candy duties and assumed the role of watchdog, keeping an eye on the Scouts as they walked along the crowd handing out candy. I also played the part of the enforcer. Now that a few Scouts had escaped the confines of the float, others wanted to jump down and walk as well. I put the kibosh on that though, since the 4 or 5 we had walking was enough to keep track of. It’s always a great way to start the Holiday season with “Hey, we lost your kid in the crowd.”
Once all the candy was expended, we started herding the boys back onto the float for the end of the parade and the ride back to our starting point. We continued to wish “Merry Christmas!” to anyone who’d listen as we made our way and the boys sand “Rudolph” a few times. The biggest thrill for the kids was riding on a trailer out in the open, since under normal circumstances they wouldn’t be doing that sort of thing. Fortunately for them, a parade doesn’t qualify as normal circumstances.
When it was all done and said, the boy was cold and tired. We got home an hour or so before bed time and he spent it warming up. When his head finally hit his pillow, he went out quickly and quietly.
Maybe parade’s aren’t so bad after all.