Ocracoke Fireworks happen in July 2 each year as they are the kickoff to three full days of celebrations. Unfortunately the fireworks show had to be cancelled this year due to a large weather front that moved over the island through the day and evening. We measured 4.23 inches of rain at our house. The good thing was that we didn’t have to water the flowers for several days after that. (We expect more rain this week as Tropical Storm Chantal makes a visit!)
This made the Ocracoke Fourth of July parade more important than ever.
We decorated our mini-truck (A 1991 Suzuki) and entered it in the parade as a salute to the 249th birthday celebration of the USA.
There are several categories: walking, bicycles, gold carts, wheels (for street legal vehicles), and towed floats. Though we are small, we are highway legal, so we ended up in the wheels division. (A funny moment came when u was signing us up. They told us to put our number…10…in the windshield on the driver’s side of the vehicle. I told them that, in the little truck, the driver sits on the right. They then corrected the instructions to the “ left side!”
The practice here is for the parade entry’s to toss candy out to all the watchers along the way. Since Trish’s daughter, Betsie, and her son, five year old Beckham, are with us this week, we set them up in the bed of the truck to be candy throwers. They threw to the right side and Trish threw to the left. We had four large buckets of wrapped candy and it all disappeared on the route.
Since we were in the parade, we could not get photos of other entries. Our friend and neighbor, Doug Tanner, took photos of us as we passed and so we got a view of how we looked.
You see Trish sitting on the left side where people expect to see her driving. Sometimes she holds both hands up so the truck seems to be under its own control.
The parade is always lots of fun and we are already thinking about next year…when our country will be 250 years old!
