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| Awaiting the Butterfly Release |
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| Hula Hoop Contestants |
The Fourth of July holiday on Longboat features one of the very shortest parades in the nation, where the children of our island decorate their bicycles, strollers and wagons and march perhaps one city block down Bay Isles, from the Town Hall to the Post Office and back (it's a divided parkway type road). Of course there are the usual luminaries, including a Grand Marshall, the Mayor, Vice Mayor and several council members. And yes, even a few convertibles were there, one of them mine with local Councilman Phil Younger in the passenger seat, and Ripley Wild sitting on the console. Thankfully, Phil and Ripley are good friends, and shared taking the waves of citizens along the street. The event, sponsored by the Longboat Observer, featured games for the kids, and food for the adults. More pictures of this event can be found on the web at www.yourobserver.com, in their photo essay section. There have been rumors we had young children living here, and these pictures clearly show them out for a fun day.
The day began with the parade, followed by a dedication and renaming the event in the name of our recently deceased and much loved Chief of Police. His widow was the Grand Marshal, and accepted a lovely framed compendium of stories that followed his untimely death, including comments from residents that were published in the weeks following. Then one of the paper's reporters sang our National Anthem, followed by the traditional butterfly release, and then the kids games began. Ripley had lots of young children petting him, and he enjoyed meeting many new dogs as well. It was a great way to celebrate our nation's great day.
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| The local paper and its budget 'dunk tank' |
The "traditional butterfly release": That certainly raises questions.
ReplyDeleteWhy were these poor butterflies held captive? Had they violated some butterfly law? Are all butterflies in captivity released, or is it just the ones who have behaved well? Do they get a bus ticket and $20? Perhaps more important, is it even legal to imprison butterflies?
Or am I reading this wrong? By "traditional butterfly," are we talking about butterflies that are traditional themselves -- those with solid butterfly family values and a butterfly love of country, who all want the ACA repealed?
I think a second post is in order to clarify the situation for your faithful readers!
Hilarious - I flash back to the Two-and-a-Half Men episode where Berta releases butterflies on the patio during the wedding of Charley's mother and Teddy, and they're all dead. She's out there shaking the box, nothing. Empties it on the deck, a million seagulls descend. These appeared to be monarch butterflies, which winter in Mexico but do landscaping work in Florida during the summer, and take part-time jobs with local event planners as colorful participants.
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