Made it to the Fourth of July parade in Contoocook, NH, again this year.  I missed it last year because the Fourth fell on a Saturday, and I go trash paddling on the first Saturday of the month.  I did make it in 2014 though.

The attraction?  My brother and his wife live in Contoocook, so I use that as home when I trash paddle in New Hampshire.  And if you’re there on the Fourth of July, you have to see the parade.

A 30-minute kids’ parade kicks off at 11:30.  For a kid with a decorated trike or scooter it’s a fun walk for a few blocks with cheering fans on both sides of the street and a motorcycle patrolman leading the way.

The main event starts after that.  It’s a short, fun parade, a row of veterans with flags, a band on a trailer, the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts,  a few vintage Corvairs, some older cars, a local horse-drawn farm wagon, several fire engines and the public works’ dump truck.  It goes by in a flash, the kids along the route pick up the candy flung out to them, ears ring from the sirens, and then the road opens back up and traffic resumes.

It’s a frustrating half hour delay if you’re trying to get through town by car at the time, I am sure.

But it’s just a simple good time when sitting in the shade with family and friends along the parade route.

And trash paddling?  That’s the monthly on-the-water trash pickup sponsored by the flatwater paddling section of the Appalachian Mountain Club New Hampshire Chapter.

The granddaughters get a chuckle out of a pre-parade selfie taken by their father.

Some other parade photos: