All hail Beanpole

If I had a smartphone, I would have been posting live with it just now.

I don't have much community "spirit", or patience for waiting hours outside, so I have little experience with parades, but I suspect Bloomington's July 3 4 parade just now was not one of the finer specimens. For one thing, it was less of a parade, or march, than an intermittent crawl. I can see how pausing occasionally might help some troupes show off, but it felt more like a truck up ahead was having turning corners. If there were high quality floats, or any floats, I must have been too late for them; what I mostly saw were various businesses, churches, or political groups announcing their existence, with a handful of individuals, or a truck in flag and balloons. There were also a couple of Mack trucks whose main contribution was flags, very loud honking, and exhaust. A school marching band, a couple of cheerleader platoons, some gymnasts, who all were the highlights until the next paragraph showed up. A truck full of tires.

And then... Beanpole, the God of Pointless Behavior. A truck with a sign saying that, a guy with a loudspeaker announcing that, and escorts in various wacky outfits. He also wished us "a happy third, fourth, third, fourth of July" and things like that. "Follow my Twitter feed, I don't have one". For unexpected absurdism, it was easily the most entertaining part of the parade, beating the band and cheerleaders. Beanpole was immediately followed by the Spinster Pride contingent, with signs about it being okay to be single, and something about cats, made up of a bunch of cheerful women.

Well, it was an easy parade to drop in on and view, at least. Lots of sidewalk visibility, no having to jump up at the back of a thick crowd.