Memorial Day Parade 2

Being a former band geek myself, I appreciate marching bands. Even when they don’t start playing until they’ve marched 100 feet past where I’m standing. (I’m not bitter. AT ALL.)

It’s interesting to see what the norm is for different marching bands. This band only fastened the top button of their jackets, and let the back zipper hang open, unzipped. (It seemed a little sloppy, but they were all wearing matching maroon t-shirts underneath, so I guess it was planned. But why not forgo the jacket entirely, and just wear the matching maroon t-shirts?) Plus, a lot of them carried their own little knapsacks/ mini backpacks through the parade. I wish we’d been allowed to do that when I was in band. (sulk sulk sulk)

Memorial Day Parade

I know this is obvious for most of you, but today is Memorial Day in the United States. A lot of us have the day off from work so we can celebrate the memory of those who died in wars.

One of the ways we celebrate is… parades!

Every town has its own local parade, mostly. So I watched New Providence’s! It’s sponsored by our local American Legion chapter.

The guard, shown in the top photo, was much less busy before the parade started:

I’ve never photographed a parade before. It’s hard to get good photos of a parade! I’ll need to figure out some better techniques for next time.

Garden show!

This past Sunday was the 23rd Annual Spring Garden Fair and Plant Sale, featuring Union County Master Gardeners!

A section of the Watchung Reservation is dedicated to their Master Gardener demo garden anyway, so they just set up some tables and tents, and put out a whole lotta plants, and called it a fair.

Everywhere you looked, there were gardeners standing by ready to spring to action! And plants! Plants as far as the eye could see! (The plants weren’t ready to spring to action, though. No action plants.)

Every green-thumber’s dream, really.

…Well. Even for someone with a brown thumb (like me), it was a lovely opportunity to see all these beautifully cared-for plants in one spot. (Oh my poor stevia. Sigh.)

Carnival 5!

I originally wasn’t going to show you this photo of the Riptide at night, because it’s basically the same as yesterday’s light-trails shot… but these OLP carnival shots seem to be pretty well received, and how often do I get to do fun shots like these, anyway?

So HERE YOU GO. No more, though. It’s back to the boring life tomorrow.

Carnival 4!

Continuing fun at the OLP Fair…!

I’ve photographed The Zipper at night before, and quite honestly it might be the exact same set of bolts and motors and lights (since it’s owned by the same company)… but never in New Providence!

I’ve always thought the little spinning capsules look like saxophone cases. (You can check Wikipedia to see what the ride looks like in the daytime.)

Carnival 3!

Continuing with the OLP fair… everyone loves the swing ride!

Carnival 2!

More OLP Carnival shots. It wouldn’t be a fair without a Ferris wheel! Thanks George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.

…And sometimes I can’t decide between shots, so you get ‘em both. Which one do you like better?

Carnival!

It’s that time of year again for Our Lady of Peace (a Catholic church/school in downtown New Providence) to put on its annual fair! (They called it a country fair last year, they’re calling it a carnival this year… whatever, same thing.)

It runs Wednesday through Saturday, presumably because it’s hosted by good Catholics who don’t want to work on Sunday. So yes, it’s over now, but I’m still gonna regale you with a few days’ worth of photos. Carnivals at night are way too much fun to photograph!

(I know I’ve shown you a merry-go-round before, but… well, I’ve shown you more than one flower, too, so what’s the harm in repeating myself a little?)

I was once told that a merry-go-round rotates clockwise, and a carousel rotates counter-clockwise, or something… but according to Wikipedia, this seems to be a regional distinction more than anything, and carousels and merry-go-rounds are the same dang thing.

Concert

The Chatham Community Band had a concert yesterday!

The theme of the concert was “A Tribute to the Movies” (which is, incidentally, a recurring joke on one of my favorite podcasts. [FYI, they get to it within the first 3 minutes of that particular episode.] They enjoy mocking the multitudes of ways that Oscar ceremonies can waste time.)

For the whole movie tribute, they played songs derived from movies, and played clips from those movies on a projection screen in front of the band.

Pretty fun!

Summit Street Fair

The Summit Street Fair was on Sunday! All of downtown Summit was blocked off (which made driving + parking in that area more of a pain in the tuchus than usual) so fairgoers could enjoy the vendors, the food, the dancers, the bouncy castles, and— of course— the tall patriotic guys on stilts.