The parade was on June 23 and since Scranton is only about 25 minutes south of us we decided to go. I tried to find more information about the parade and found it was in part by the Lions Club of Scranton. It appeared there was a biscuit and gravy feed from 6:30 to 9:30 with the parade at 10:00.
Our close friends, Pat and Esther, planned to come too but we head there early because Mike wanted to go to the Lions' biscuit and gravy breakfast. The Lions were not charging for the biscuit and gravy, but were taking donations. As we sat down for breakfast, both Flor and I thought we could have been in Lebo Kansas 25 years ago at their community center with my grandparents and their neighbors. In fact there was a lady there that was very similar to Fern from about 25 years ago in look, dress and manner of talk.
After eating, we went to the park where people were setting up various booths. What was going on after the parade was day long events with fireworks later in the evening. Bouncy houses were being set up that got JJ's attention.
One gentleman was setting up a home-made ice cream stand. He had a John Deere stationary engine running an oversized ice cream maker. He had the boxes of an old John Deere planter as dispensers for toppings. This was all on a trailer being pulled by an old Minneapolis Moline tractor. Mike enjoyed the set up because his grandfather Jesse used Minneapolis Moline tractor when he was farming and his grand father Harvey used John Deere. And Mike does like antique tractors.
About 9:30 Pat and Esther arrived and we walked a block over to the main drag to wait for the parade. There were the fire trucks, old trucks and cars and tractors. And there was a contingent of Shriner's in their go-carts. Of course there was a lot of candy thrown. The kids loaded up on candy.
After the parade we walked back to the park and bought the wrist band for the bouncy house. The kids then spent the next hour or so bouncing.
The fire department had a couple of old vehicles in the park that they were letting people beat on with a sledge hammer. JJ wanted to beat on the vehicles. He wore a fire helmet and safety goggles and went to town. He was impressive in throwing the sledge at 9 years old. After about 20 - 25 hits he did get tired and stopped. He then announced that he wanted to be a fireman someday.
There was a family there that was smoking ribs to sell for lunch. We had ribs with beans and cheesy potatoes and that was very good!
After eating JJ went back to beating on the vehicles. After this time when he got done we headed home.
For something we did not have a lot of information on and unsure what was going on, we had a good time and the weather was perfect too. The Lions Club does this every year to raise money and do something for the community. We plan on doing it again next year.
Thank you for following.
Awe brought tears...especially when you talked about Mom. Scranton is a lot like Lebo.
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