A good time seems to have been had by all at W-B's Bicentennial Parade.
My day officially began around 9:15 a.m., when I decided to clean the windows of the station vehicle I would be driving in the parade (I brought it home from work Friday night, and had already been asked to wash it before heading to the parade). Well, as I began cleaning the windows, I noticed that the rest of the interior was filthy. So, what I thought might be a 5 or 10-minute job, turned into at least a half-hour project, complete with vacuum cleaner and Clorox wipes.
Just as I'm finishing up, a UGI Utility truck pulls up, essentially blocking my exit. But, the guy said he would be done in 10 minutes, and he was.
So, around 10, I set off for the car wash. By the time I finished that, it was about 10:20, so I was already late to pick up well-known local personality, Manny Gordon! I rushed over to get Manny, and we made it to the staging area in W-B by about 10:30.
And then, we waited. We were in Division 7 of the parade, which happened to be the final division. So, we hung out and chatted for about an hour until it was time to head down South Main.
Manny had a ball! He's almost 95 years old now, but he was like a kid - handing out pencils to young and old, trading calls of his trademark "Enjoy! Enjoy!" with people in the crowd. A couple times, I stopped the car, so people could take his picture.
The parade route was only about one-mile long. We went from a shopping plaza near Abe's to the reviewing stand on Public Square. Then, once we got past the reviewing stand, it was over. The End. Nothing to do but take Manny back to his apartment building and head back to the station.