Sunday, July 5, 2009

View from the Parade, Part 1

I knew South Pasadena was magical but this is downright miraculous ... Abe Lincoln himself showed up to be a part of the Fourth of July Festival of Balloons parade!

All kinds of other magic and merriment took place along Mission Street yesterday. Take a look here at my overflow blog for a collection of parade images. (And be sure to check back tomorrow for more. Want a hint? Let's just say the parade must be the one event every year that brings out ALL of South Pasadena's vintage cars...)

15 comments:

dbdubya said...

You've done a great job of capturing the essence of the Festival of Balloons in your photos, including your overflow blog. I particularly like the children in this photo - the little girl with the bottle and the little boy in the stroller waving a flag. Great stuff.

Hilda said...

Did you tell Abe that his ancestor showed up in South Pasadena? :D

Happy Independence Day!

Judy Williams said...

HEE HEE - I didn't know Abe had such big feet. Love this so much. It's a true slice of Americana. Off to see the overflow.

Dixie Jane said...

So much fun seeing people having ol'fashioned fun in So. Pas. I especially like the Abe Lincoln bus in the overflow pics. Did I spot Aunt Bea and Opie in the crowd?

TheChieftess said...

This is our So Pas July 4th in a nutshell!!! Great pic Laurie! Love your overflow pics as well!!!

Trish said...

all pics of things I remember, tho I didn't know we even had a John Deere tractor in SoPas!

What hurts the most tho is the Girl Scout Flag...troop 13971?!?!?!?!

I was in Troop 580! I feel OLD!

TheChieftess said...

I was in troop 279...talk about old!!!!

dbdubya said...

The John Deere tractor is used by the South Pasadena Little League to groom the baseball fields. The guy driving it is a long time resident who always drives it in the parade. This is the tractor that won't die. It was badly burned in the fire at the Public Works yard a couple of months ago. The plastic body, steering wheel, and other parts melted off. Surprisingly, it fired up and was driven away. From the photo you can see that it's got new tires and body. But you can see evidence of the fire on the wheels and part of the frame in front. That's a pretty good endorsement for John Deere tractors!

Trish said...

oh dear Chieftess...tho at this point, I think we're about even---13k troops?!?!

db---longtime resident---what's his name? With the hat and shade I'm not recognizing him...but probably should.

and---dang, when I was playing on those fields, we had to drag the fields BY HAND! John Deere...sheesh...progress! ;-)

It does sound like a testament to JD tractors...kinda like when I worked for a computer company and the *first* attacks on World Trade Towers in the 90's---the one most people survived...guy calls in to our tech support and asks how to get the machine back up...tech starts going thru commands and the user stops him---says NO, it is STILL running just fine even after the blast, but on its back how the h#ll do I get it upright? (the piece had to weigh 800lbs or so).

Go John Deere, go!

dbdubya said...

The tractor engineer, or operator, or driver - whatever you call the guy that drives a tractor, is Mike Fox. He showed up a day or two after the fire to check on the tractor. He was told it was probably toast. Mike figured no way - he fired it up, got it going and had to grab a towel to wrap around the spokes of what used to be the steering wheel and drove off. Like the Energizer bunny, the John Deere tractor just keeps on ticking.

Cafe Pasadena said...

I think you call him Mister, Mr. Fox. And, if it's his tractor - then the Mike Fox tractor.

I guess it's true what they've been sayin all these years about Elvis & Abe.


Another great photo, Miss Laurie.

Trish said...

Mr Fox and the Fox fam are old inhabitants of SoPas. I don't doubt he was able to get the tractor up and running and parts replaced. I went to school with several of the Fox kids a few moons ago.

Just wish he'd had his tractor around when I was having to drag the field by hand..."grab a chain and drag the field kid!".

Laurie Allee said...

Thank you so much, everybody! I've been up half the night going through photos for the next post. Make sure to check it out...

Until tomorrow!

Margaret said...

The theme was Abe Lincoln's birthday. Hence his appearance, and hence all the lovely fifth grade posters lining the route, all with Stove pipe hats.

Anonymous said...

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