Terri's Journal: Week Nine

This last weekend I marched for the Museum in the Sea Cavalcade Parade and I couldn’t help noticing how little the event differed from any archival photograph we have of community functions.  

Usually, if I were to say that an experience was like ‘living in history’ I’d mean that whatever was happening was so important and profound that I could tell in that moment that it would be taught in schools in years to come. That’s not the case when I say the same about a parade. In fact, I mean pretty much the exact opposite.

I should make it clear right from the beginning, I am not condemning parades. I love parades with every facet of my small-town soul. But you have to admit: parades, by all accounts, should be an entirely outdated form of entertainment. With the increasingly impressive technology available to us at ever-decreasing prices it would not be strange if parades had long since been extinct. But somehow the tradition has persevered.

I cannot tell you with any authority why people are still interested in parades, I can only express my own opinions so adamantly that you assume they are facts. This is what I shall do.

1. Parades, above anything else, promote a sense of community. Let’s be honest, sitting in the hot sun for a couple hours and watching decorated cars drive by really slowly doesn’t actually sound like much fun. The appeal is in the people you watch with: family, friends, neighbours, strangers. Add in the local businesses and organizations to cheer for on the floats and then you have something. In this small a community it is bare minimum that you will recognize the family across the street and live next door to someone in the parade -- Guaranteed.
2. Candy. I’m not joking. Now, I’ve been past the accepted age of running for the candy thrown out at parades for a good number of years now, but a funny thing happens when you unwittingly cross that age line – the joy in the candy throwing does not subside, it shifts. I was awarded a single piece of candy at this year’s Canada Day Parade in Sechelt and I traded it for a smile from the cutest little girl you’ll ever see. Watching the sugar-fueled delight in all those children (especially at the Sea Cav Parade this year where the numbers were incredibly high) is very special and you won’t see it anywhere else outside Halloween and Easter.
3. Ceremony. If it can be nothing else, the Parade is the ceremonial opening to Sea Cav. Without it, all the smaller events might not have the same sense of connection to each other. Beyond this particular parade, though, the concept itself is ceremonial in nature. There’s no real point to a parade, it’s not a race, or a journey, or a fundraiser, it’s about the ceremony of the march. Similarly, the concept is not one anyone would dream up in this century; it’s done because it’s been done before. Parades are a tradition and as such they are a piece of the past living in the present.

There are certainly arguments to be made for and against the rapid advancement of technology, but to my thinking, if we can still find joy in the simplicity of a parade then maybe we don’t need to worry so much either way.

Terri