Dry Parade ? A first in History of Sierra Madre

By SHEL SEGAL
There?s nothing more American than having a parade on the nation?s birthday.
With that said, hundreds lined Sierra Madre Boulevard on Thursday for that foothill city?s annual Independence Day parade with the usual pomp and kitsch making its way down the street.
But one thing was auspiciously missing this year. Due to the city?s water shortage and implementation of mandatory conservation measures, H2O was not being sprayed on the sweating parade-goers by the fire department during or following the festivities.
Jim Annes, one of the parade?s organizers, said he hopes the visitors weren?t too disappointed by the dryness of this year?s parade.
?The only downside this year is the water supply is low so we didn?t have any water fun this year,? Annes said. ?I wish that we could have, but the city said no. We didn?t have any part of the decision.?
But he said the parade should still have been amusing to all who came by.
?It?s a ton of fun, especially when you?re watching it,? Annes said. ?When you get inside the guts of it and know what makes it go on. It?s still fun.?
Annes added the parade?s organizers were honoring a special lady who served the community for several decades.
?Our hometown hero was Mama Pete,? he said. ?She was a preschool teacher here in town for 40-plus years and just passed away. We?re honoring her posthumously.?
In addition, he said there was much more to see in the parade for everyone.
?We had a bunch of cars, a World War II jeep and a car that was at Pearl Harbor,? Annes said. ?We had the famous Topa Topa Tractors. We had Little League and Boy Scouts here. We had Katrelya Angus, the world famous belly dancer.?
Coming to the parade for the second straight year was Sierra Madre resident Melissa Naftalis. As her daughter was riding on the Mama Pete float, Naftalis said loves the feel of the parade.
?It?s such a nice community and it feels like a throwback to a different time,? Naftalis said. ?This is kind of something that embodies that kind of feeling of such a lovely small town.?
Naftalis? father ? Steve Petruska ? came to the parade all the way from Elk Grove, which is a suburb of Sacramento. Petruska said
?It reminds me of the parades and the small town I used to grow up in,? said Petruska, who was attending his first parade on July 4 in Sierra Madre.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com).

Posted by Monrovia Weekly on July 11, 2013. Filed under Current News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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