Wednesday night I participated in the Vienna Halloween Parade twice. I marched with the Rotary Club of Vienna in position 17 and rode with the bikes@vienna entry at position 84. It was double the fun.
The rain fell off and on during the parade. I imaged that the crowd would be very small and I was very wrong. People lined Maple Avenue under umbrellas, pop-up tents, and tarps. This event is a signature of this communities' effort to be a small town. Rain was not going to keep people away. Rain that had been scarce for so long was almost embraced. I did not hear any comments about "too bad it's raining". The opposite reaction I did hear----"isn't this rain wonderful".
The Rotary Club was behind a group of librarians with book carts. We moved out on to Maple and there was a whistle. This was not just a group of librarians pushing book carts! It was a precision drill team! I laughed many times during the parade as the whistle would sound and the group would perform. The spectators at the curb would always break out in laughter and hoots of joy.
The librarians inspired our Rotary Group to adlib a routine using umbrellas. We were far from coordinated, but by the time we reached the reviewing stand we were getting better. We need to watch a video clip of Gene Kelly doing "Singing in the Rain" if we do this again. We need to watch the clip over and over.
I hustled back to the store to join our small band of riders and we navigated the back streets to get to the van that was holding our place in the parade. We then made the trip down Maple Avenue behind a high energy performing troop. It is fun to ride and wave to people you know. It is always a joy.
We had a dozen riders. I thank each of them for helping me to publicize bikes@vienna.
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