Occupying the 4th

BIG parade this morning! And, yes, our Occupy group actually got permitted to be in the parade. We were slotted about two-thirds into the lineup, and the parade organizers positioned us right smack dab between the Republicans and Democrats. What a hoot! The Dems had a great float, lots of people riding or walking alongside; the float celebrates the diversity of our area, with "Yes, we can!" and "Si, se puede!" side by side, with somewhat smaller signs with the same phrase in other languages.

Then came Occupy.

To our great delight, we got applause all along the parade route. That's saying something in this very red part of the state.

Next came the Republicans. Er, The Republican. One man attired in Revolutionary War military uniform (beautifully made, by the way), riding a flag=festooned Harley. He was so closely following the Occupiers that the crowd seemed to think he was part of us, until he wised up and held back a bit.

It was interesting, as always, to watch the crowd respond to the various parade entrants. Two entrants from the oil/gas industry received small and quiet applause. There was a modicum of enthusiasm for the OFA team and some Democratic candidates for state offices. But the most telling, at least for me, was the response to the Romney team: They carried a large banner reading "Colorado is Romney Country". Given that we're still under a blanket of smoke and ash, Romney's words about firefighters have been echoing around the state. The Romney team walked to utter silence from the crowd.


Have a great holiday, everyone!