Walking along the Welland Recreational Canal towards the Main Street Bridge 2011

I have always considered the Welland Recreational Canal one of the most picturesque places in the community - even when I first moved here nearly twenty years ago. But lately its appeal has intensified - starting with the birth of the new Civic Centre. Then came the delectable IlluminAqua series and now, as I sit at its home on Merritt Park's amphitheatre steps, I almost feel as if I am on vacation... I am surrounded by the sort of scene that makes me happy to be away from the routine of everyday. But I am just five minutes from home!

It was a beautiful June day alive with a post-parade buzz, the flowing stream of triathalon runners, and the occasional kayak being pushed through the placid water, all seasoned with a classic rock selection of songs being performed over at The Bridge. The date was Sunday, June 24 and the topic is impressions of the 2012 Welland Rose Parade.

You are probably wondering why I have a colourless canal picture adorning my Rose Parade blog entry! Well, since events that took place earlier that day almost resulted in my missing the parade altogether, I managed to appear at the apex of the Main Street and Division Street Bridges on time but without camera in tow!!!

Oh it was painful, let me tell you, but I proceeded to suck it up telling myself at least I am getting to experience the cavalcade in its entirety. And I was perfectly fine until the appearance of the first transport truck with its polished mirrored bumper taunted me with a delightfully distorted reflection of the crowd sitting before it. Reflections are my guilty photographic pleasure, so the pangs of camera deprivation struck again when a row of shining tubas was placed gently onto the ashphalt, reflecting the swirling, warped images of of the crowd in its bell. Despite the absence of evidence, I thoroughly enjoyed this year's Rose Parade. There was no question as to the theme of the event thanks to the adornment of roses flanking truck grills and woven into tire rims and tucked behind the ears of the ladies waving to the crowd from their respective convertables. The weather was perfect and the rolling entertainment stellar and intriguing. Particularly the bands! I'd read in the Welland Tribune that there were 16 marching band entries this year - a report that made me want to attend even more vehemently than usual!

There was a great representation of musical talent ranging from a simple but classic Drum and Bugle band to the mature Asian women all dressed in yellow striking the red drums at their sides to the final group: a sea of young, red attired musicians from Burlington that nearly occupied the entire length of the Division Street Bridge! (which would have made a FINE picture...!) In addition to the carefully calculated marching sequences, I love witnessing the choreography of hydration distribution during parades - I bet on a hot summer day, those with the bottles of water stacked up in their arms attentively offering sustenance must be just as important as those with the white tubas coiled around their backs or taught drums clinging to their stomachs.

In addition to the marching bands, we were treated to a delightfully quirky pair of  Chinese Dragons, not a sight you get to see everyday! They swirled about on the pavement weaving around human counterparts whose legs, curiously enough, sported the same flamboyant material as those on the dragons... oh right, they were obviously the relief, the second shift...

We marvelled at the massive horses marching proudly in unison (rows of robust legs that would have / could have served as another fantastic photographic subject...!) before coming to a stop right in front of our seats. Just after them, a kid on a four wheeler came to a successive stop, accompanied by another young man who, judging from the resemblance, we decided had to be his brother. I wondered what they were doing in the parade because there was no advertising or other decoration on his vehicle or their clothing. Then we watched as the one boy proceeded to shovel horse droppings from the pavement into a metal can affixed to the back of the four wheeler!! He couldn't have been more than fourteen years old and here he was doing this unpleasant task in a parade, all the while sporting a monumental smile! It was great and I enthusiastically joined in the applause offered from the crowd when he was finished.

So we walked away from the parade with nothing more than a bouquet of lollipops safely tucked into the band of my little guy's sock! But the absence of pictures didn't take too much away from the afternoon. In fact, it may have allowed me to experience it even more acutely, or at least from a different perspective!