Today's View From the Unemployment Line

Over Labor Day weekend, I spent my days once again in Indiana. For this city boy from the East Coast, it's still novel to see corn as far as the eye can see over flat land, small towns, and all the livestock attendant to supremely rural America.

I happened to get the opportunity to participate in a local Labor Day parade. This is the kind of thing you only see in smaller towns, and in my experience, only west of the DC suburbs. In fact, I have never seen anything like it. The most enthusiastic members of the crowd, as would be expected, were the kids. In my own experience, I remember parades on St. Patrick's Day, the Fourth of July, and on military bases. Being in DC or around a Navy base, these usually involved a lot of soldiers, marching, and patriotic music. As I got older, perhaps some Guinness would appear in my hand on March 17. But this Labor Day parade was something new. No Marines, no Old Guard of the Army, no Swartzkopf, no crisply dressed Continental Army reinactors. This seemed to be anyone or anything that wanted to participate in the parade. And the kids were prepared with plastic bags. The main attraction at this parade wasn't bands, soldiers, or floats, it was CANDY!! There enough candy along the route to rot the teeth out of every last child in town and more.

Below I have posted a couple pictures I took along the way. The pictures, or course, are only a sampling the full scene in all its glory. Sure was fun!