I love a parade...don't you?

I live in one of the best places in the world, at least for me. This past weekend was our annual neighborhood celebration, which for us is really just a big party with all of our friends. The city closes off a few blocks of the main road and allow vendors to set-up booths selling all sorts of yummy food and fun art. However, the best part of this celebration is the parade. Don't you just love a good parade?

In our parade, there were people dressed up like cupcakes, pirates, belly dancers, clowns and even patriots:


I can't tell you how unusual these guys looked. We are not in New England and I don't know if I have ever seen people dressed in outfits like that in a parade around here before.

These guys, however, have become a mainstay and are always very entertaining:

In addition to the stilt walkers and clowns, they also had a marching band that was lead by an electric base player. I don't usually think of the electric base as a marching band instrument, but apparently someone did.

The stilt walker was right ahead of this guy:

This is Oregon at it's finest. I always LOVE to see the old tractors.

Continuing in the "rural/urban" theme, below is a picture of the group called CLUCK, which stands for "Children's League of Urban Chicken Keepers".

In Portland every household is allowed to keep three small farm animals (i.e. chickens, ducks, goats, etc.). I still find that odd, but wonderful at the same time. It has become a very popular hobby to keep three chickens in your back yard.

It just so happens that the father in this particular family is an old college friend of my hubby. This name is a bit of a joke in that this group is not a formal club. It seems that a few years ago the kids wanted to walk in the parade, but did not have the requisite dog everyone else had. However, they do have their three chickens and thought they might enjoy the parade too. Now they are another mainstay we look forward to seeing every year.

Still not convinced I live in a special place? Well check this out:

It's a "float" entered into the parade by the neighborhood yarn shop. Sorry for the less than stellar picture. The vehicle had roving "buntings" along the hood, yarn hanging out the windows and knitted garments on top and on the back. Unfortunately they were not tossing out hanks of Koigu, but there's always next year...

Speaking of yarn...as I sat down to wait for the parade to start, I pulled out my knitting. At the same time, the woman next to me also pulled out her knitting, which was also socks. I love it when that happens.

I was knitting on these monsters, which I finished at the celebration:

Pattern: Basic cuff down sock, Yarn: Big Mexiko by Schoeller Stahl, with a little Cascade 220 superwash for heals and toes. Size: 14 mens!

WooHoo, another Christmas gift is done! Oh, and another pair is almost done...maybe tomorrow...