And a Cool Parade

So, Northside in Cincinnati is a pretty cool little neighborhood. Tons of old amazing homes. A main street of great shops and cafes. A tight multi-ethnic community that has a history of going its own way in a sometimes conservative town (gateway to the south and all)--proudly being green friendly, organic friendly, queer friendly, vegan friendly. Like Chicago's Wicker Park without all of the self-referential, hipstery-ness.

My folks participate in the farmer's market there and have met a lot of great people in the process. Home to the coolest bar in Cincinnati (the Comet) and the best record store (the previously displayed "Shake It"), it should come as no surprise that it's also home to the best parade in the Queen City.

Here are some highlights:

i love this woman. . . her butterfly. her red shoes. her blue socks. her green pants. i want to dress like this every day.

this lone roller skating dude with the flag. in my head, i want to remember him with long hair, shirtless wearing a red white and blue headband/sweatband--super 70's to go with his super fast weave and circle in the parade route.

and admittedly, I didn't get a good picture of the famous men's drill team (men marching in formation weilding battery-powered power tools) or the synchronized folding chair lady dancers. Neither activity was as photogenic as I had heard. But it's a small town parade with a lot of heart and eye on family fun and we had a great time.

and any parade that ends in this way. . . a final pick-up blaring fun music daring you to dance along behind it (and all of the parade spectators did!), is the finest 4th of July parade there is by my calculations.