Takin' the Blog for a Walk

Witnessed at the Waukesha Fourth of July parade; a police squad car with lights and sirens blaring. Normal? This car wasn't in the parade but trying to maneuver between the kids running for candy in the street and parade entrants. I've never seen anything like it. One problem with running a squad car on a parade route instead of using a parallel street is that it's so expected that it's unexpected. Sirens are so much part of parades that sometimes people don't watch out for them. No one expects a fast moving squad car to come within inches of the curb on parade day.

All kinds of things were going through my head. Did someone get their eye poked by a thrown piece of candy? Someone get run over? There weren't any animals to get loose and there was no ambulance. Did they not know a parade was going on? If this was a cop going from one end of the downtown to a crime on the other end they picked the wrong route. Someone could have been seriously injured.

There was a large crowd for the parade this year thanks to the great weather. I'm glad the city doesn't ban candy-tossing. Find a seat next to someone's kids and there's a constant rain of sweets in your direction. It's like Halloween part II. Even the mayor had something for everyone though I have to wonder why he chose to toss chocolate on a warm July day. The best treat idea came from St. William Cub Pack 122 who've been handing out icypops the last several years. I also like getting a nice cloth American flag every year from, I think, the Order of the Purple Heart.

Hats off to all the entrants. Thanks for a good parade, and thanks for the candy.