Monday, 8:00 AM. 45 degrees, wind NNW, light. The channel is dimpled, the sky partly cloudy with rain clouds, and the barometer predicts the same.The parade started yesterday about 2:30 PM but it was a long wait in line for Joan, Lucky and I (we were #62) and the first bands were coming up Mannypenny as we turned down the main route of Rittenhouse. There were lots of good bands and floats although we couldn’t see them all. Crowds lined the entire route from 6th and Rittenhouse and all the way down First Street to the Coast Guard Station.
While we were waiting to start I talked to Seth, the manager of the hardware store, who is a tribal member and was drumming for the dancers who were behind us in the lineup. His sister was wearing a beautiful jingle dress and I asked where she got the hundreds of bells on her dress. She makes them out of rolled up snuff can lids, they have no clapper but jingle when they bump together. An Indian acquaintance once said to me, “White people think Indians just lay around all day. They don’t know how much work it is to be an Indian.” Very true, as there is a tremendous amount of time, energy and artistry that goes into these costumes and all the rituals they still perform. The same is true of the traditional activities which they continue to do…the hunting, gathering, sugaring and on and on.
Anyway the parade did not get rained out and was an evident success. Afterwards I took the contents of the trailer to the Tellfords who will compost them, and dropped the wet hay bales off at Blue Vista Farm where they can make good use of them, and took the trailer back to Eric’s. Next year I will have a better float, although this one was O.K. and even got a few cheers and a thumbs up here and there along the route.
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