Sunday, July 5, 2009

Sierra Madre July 4th Parade

Official start of the 2009 Sierra Madre July 4th Parade. That's a 1968 Dodge Coronet Pasadena police cruiser leading the way with girl scouts holding the parade banner.


Veterans of Foreign Wars carried the colors. The crowd stood and cheered as these guys marched by. I like that.

This is an entry you won't find in any other small town July 4th parade -- the foundation for Sierra Madre's annual Rose Parade entry. In case you ever wondered what Rose Parade floats look like without the scaffolding and flowers, this is it.

We step back in time to the 1940 parade. No, just a lot of really old cars from this year's parade edited to black and white.

And, a lot of old cars. This 50's era Cadillac sported impressive tail fins and carried the grand marshall, Midge Morash. The tail fin design was reportedly inspired by WWII fighter planes, although some marketing genius claimed the fins blocked cross-winds and made for a smoother ride. Morash, who is known as "Mother Nature," arrived in Sierra Madre not long after this car was made and has done all kinds of good things in the city.


All in all, another wonderful parade in this beautiful city named after our local mountains. I enjoyed all the usual entries -- the priest on a motorcycle, the noname band, Sierra Madre City College, all the scouts and schools, old cars and bikes, tractors, postal workers and firefighters.

3 comments:

Dana S. Whitney said...

You must be WAY younger than me. That's a 59 Caddy! Nothing like it before or since. Love your blog as I grew up in Pasadena but have been away for 30 (!) years. Found you via google when gathering info about St. Lukes because of a photo on Flickr. (You might be amazed at how many Pasadena pictures are there)Your photos are terrific. Sorry about the bears. THAT is a new development... though in the San Rafael hills (actually more Linda Vista) there were sometimes concerns about coyotes.

Michael Coppess said...

Hi KPW (can I call you KPW?). Thank you for this parade comment and your other kind comments yesterday. I enyoyed them all very much.

Could you let us know if you are doing a project on St. Lukes? The hospital site is attracting a fair amount of attention - both from developers and from the community.

Honeymoon bed breakfast said...

America celebrates 234th Anniversary this year on July 4th. For celebrations, people arranging parties and festivals to different places. Can anyone tell me where is the biggest firework planning for Independence Day?