Some families are really into Nascar, others get into Baseball or Basketball.....The Magruder/Moores are Parade People. We love a good parade....with good marching bands, the clowns that interact with the crowd, and, of course, candy.
Last night was the State Fair Parade...the Mother of all parades.....a 2 1/2 hour parade through Springfield featuring some basketball player, the Governor and other politicians, the Best Buy Geek Squad, and a boatload of other groups and businesses. Melissa went with the girls and I, and we met up with Erin and our new friend, Rebecca. I had promised Melissa that this was going to be the best parade of her life and told her about some of the highlights of past parades.....let's just say, this parade didn't stack up.
I think there are 2 ways to judge a parade: Marching Bands and Candy.
In 2 1/2 hours, I think there were 3 marching bands, maybe 4. And for the most part, we didn't actually hear much music, just cadence.
The candy throwing was uncreative, to say the least. Melissa and I decided that Wal-Mart was by far the most generous, throwing handfuls of candy to each kid, but overall, there was very little variety in the way of candy...Tootsie rolls, dum-dum suckers, and bubble gum monopolized our candy bucket. Here's my thing...I think what people throw/give out says a lot about their attitude towards the parade attendees:
Tootsie Rolls - "I'm cheap, and I'm buying the cheapest candy I can give out"
Bubble-Gum - again, "I'm cheap and I don't really care enough about those coming to the parade to think up something fun or more creative to give out"
Dum-Dums - ...speaks for itself
Brochures - "For some reason, I don't think you're going to wad this up and throw it away....I'm wrong"
What happened to the days when McDonalds would hand out real hamburgers?? Or people would give out bottled water?? That said a lot about how they value the consumer....
We go to Palestine, Illinois every Labor Day weekend to Todd's grandpa's house for the Pioneer City Rodeo and Labor Day Parade. It's a town of about 1,200 people and they put on this HUGE parade every year. Heath bars are made in an equally small town nearby, and the Heath people throw full-size candy bars in that parade....thousands of them!!
That's what I'm talking about. It's not the amount of the candy....we aren't those parade people, who fight little kids for candy (my girls were saying "no, thank-you" to candy by the end of the night!)....we just appreciate some creativity...people putting thought into how they market their candidate/product/business.....
At this point, I'm wondering, how weird am I, that I would write a whole blog on the philosophy of candy-throwing in a parade?! Wait...I feel a thesis topic coming on....
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7 comments:
My favorite part of the parade is the fire engines... go figure:)!
To vent my own frustration, I was gonna go watch the parade with my family last night. However for some reason this year they turned the roads into a rat maze. Roads were blocked off for no logical purpose whatsoever. So I ended up turning around around in frustration and going to the guys group. Who needs family... right?
I think the moral of the story is: Don't blow off the guys group or God will block all paths to other options!!
I think I may know the problem behind your situation. The state of IL has no money. They're taking a vacation from giving teachers pension and you want candy. Thinking about it, I would rather have good candy than a pension. Good candy and maybe dental. The no money thing has probably robbed them of logic too, they couldn't afford the bill for logic so they messed up the parade route. Sorry for you guys.
To me, bubble gum says I hate you and I'm trying to get you off my back because we both know this gum has been sitting around since 1972 and is guaranteed to break out all of your teeth and you probably won't get any bubble for the trouble.
Tootsie rolls say I'm cheap but these have a little taste and might not break out your teeth if you leave them in the car for the afternoon.
Amanda, you are wise....but I must interject that I have broken a tooth on a tootsie roll. Or maybe the tooth was broken and the tootsie roll just yanked it out. Either way, I now associate tootsie rolls with large dental bills.
Did you leave the tootsie roll in question in the car for the afternoon? You can't blame the tootsie roll if you didn't follow the directions.
Gretchen
I hope the 4-H and marching shopping carts gave you candy! Actually I am not sure they do cause all our our money goes to feed the hungry for our 4-H CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE food drive. Our entry has been the governors, or judges award winner for the past couple of years!!!
-Kyle
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