We had a float with bicyclers and children on it, a sound system blaring 60's music, an electric car decorated with signs, and about 50 women of ALL ages (the youngest was about 6, the oldest was in her 70's) in Statue of Liberty costumes marching, dancing, carrying banners, and riding bicycles in circles around the float. There were 7 teenage girls who carried placards that spelled out "Montana Women For Peace" at the end of our group and each Lady Liberty wore a suffragette sash with her favorite issue spelled out on it. Montana Women turn out to be For just about every progressive cause you can imagine. The little girls in Liberty costumes ran around handing out candy to the children spectators along the route. The rest of the group handed out packets of wildflower seeds to the crowd. I marched at the front of the contingent, carrying the Montana Women For banner with another woman, with an honor guard of two women carrying the American flag and the Montana state flag. It was a hoot.
Here is the float before the parade with the Men's Auxilliary hooking up the sound system:
The float was pulled by a truck decorated with a Lady Libery figurehead on its grille:
The electric car:
Here are pictures of the pre-parade party where we got dressed and got instructions on how we were to march from Margie Kidder:
Here are pictures of the staging area before the parade began where the judges came by and gave us the second place trophy. Margie and Traci Isaly, who decorated the float itself, accepted the award.
Here are a few pictures from the parade itself sent to me by various spectators from the crowd.
Since I manage the email list for Montana Women For, I have seen that Nancy, from whom we bought our cabin, was part of the group when she lived here, and is still on the mailing list. It turns out she marched in a Lady Liberty costume last time this group graced the Fourth of July parade in Livingston. So I feel like I'm carrying on a tradition that came with the house. Furthermore, Hebbard, the real estate broker who handled the sale when we bought the cabin, marched both times. Here is a picture of Hebbard (on the right in the foreground) with some colleagues from the Real Estate Office
The parade route was crammed with people for two solid miles. They all cheered and waved as we marched by. In a small town like Livingston, the Fourth of July parade is one of the highlights of the year for community involvement. There were hundreds of floats and groups of horses, bicycles, rollerskaters, etc representing every possible part of the community. And people came in from all over the area for the parade and the rodeo the day after. Now that I have marched in the parade, I think I can say that this great little town is MY home town.
Happy Independence Day!
1 comment:
Thanks, Linda, this does bring back memories. You "Lady Libs" look fantastic! I have made use of my costume post-Livingston, in our annual Moab Electic Light Parade. One year, the non-profit thrift store where I worked had the theme of 'holidays & seasons of Moab'. I hooked up batery-powered lights around my crown and broad shoulders and carried a huge Peace sign. Maybe ya'll down that way sometime....Nancy
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