The final part of the Apple Festival festivities is the King Apple parade on Labor Day. After delivering my entries to the State Fair, I ran home to get DH and we got downtown miraculously finding a parking space only two blocks away from the parade route. The Corvette club was going by, and we made our way to the north end of the street so we could stand in the shade of the arbored section where three bed and breakfast inns are located.
The parade lasted about an hour, with all four high school bands marching and playing, three dance schools doing routines, lots of floats, dignitaries in convertibles, and a few beauty queens too.
Between all the groups, it seemed like most of the kids in the county were in the parade.
This Wizard of Oz themed float had the perfect message for our love of small town life.
Every municipality in the county sent a fire truck for the parade, I think somewhere between 20-25!!
Every one of them was intermittently honking the horn and running their sirens.
It was loud and fun, and they just kept coming!
The local Boy Scouts had a camping display that they carried, along with a color guard of state and national flags.
More old cars were seen in the parade here and there. I liked this one.
This trolley car was decorated all over with apples. Several large vans and buses carried residents of the senior living centers, all smiling and waving out the windows.
Several floats had veterans groups, and we all stood and cheered with each one.
The local theater group from the Flat Rock Playhouse had Miss Hairspray 1962.
Local teen beauty queens rode in another classic car.
Remember the firefighter from yesterday? He danced down the street in the parade, accompanied by his friend the police officer.
These guys had so much energy!! They looked like they were having a great time interacting with the crowds.
We are a farm and orchard county, so of course there were tractors in the parade.
Just plain fun!! So bright and colorful.
Then the Antique Car Club guys came down. At the end of the row was another decorated bus full of seniors.
Most of the floats had a patriotic theme.
This one had an Elvis impersonator, and he was fabulous! He really sounded a lot like Elvis.
The last float was our Apple Ambassador who receives a scholarship. The runner up is in front of her, and the other four finalists are in the front. Their gowns were stunning. It was a good thing that the horse riders were last, LOL!
Aren’t small town parades something wonderful? Do you have a Labor Day parade in your area?
From My Carolina Home 
I DO love a parade. Show me a group of marching people, floats and especially a flag and I can guarantee I will tear up. The county I grew up in has a Labor Day parade. Where I live now (since 1975) is in a small farming country….we have two parades each year—-one on the first Saturday in June, Farmer’s Day Parade, and local school bands have a Christmas parade in December.
What a fun parade! I loved the cars and floats and the obvious spirit of the townsfolk. Thanks so much for sharing. Our town has a Memorial Day and aVeterans Day parade,, but neither Labor Day nor 4th of July. Other towns around do.
Denver is too big to make my way downtown for any of the celebrations, the stress of parking or driving or even riding the bus I hate big cities! Klamath Falls OR that I came here from has a big Veteran’s Day Parade, and a Winter Festival, and the Snowflake Parade was always on a Thursday eve for some reason, because the high school bands all had to go to school on Friday! usually very cold, our church was in a storefront on Main St and passed out free coffee and hot chocolate. My son was in the marching band, and his senior year they changed the uniform to the beefeater hats: could always see him: he is 6’5″ plus another foot for that doggone hat, even in the middle of the gang he stood out! miss it loads. Thanks for sharing! Are you where you have to batten down the hatches for the hurricane?
This is a great parade. Yes, we have several parades in Loudoun County Virginia.
It looks like a grand parade with so much work and love put into it.
Grande finale!!! È interessante conoscere le vostre feste tradizionali che qui in Italia non esistono. Noi per esempio abbiamo appena festeggiato il 15 agosto la festa di “ferragosto” la festa che chiude l’estate, si fanno bbq, pic- nic in spiaggia e fuochi d’artificio 👍felice mese di settembre
Translation Great final !!! It is interesting to know your traditional festivals that do not exist here in Italy. For example, we have just celebrated the feast of “Ferragosto”, the party that closes the summer, on August 15th, with a barbecue, a picnic on the beach and fireworks in the month of September.
An HOUR long parade!!! Magnificent!! The small town next to our smaller town just had Pioneer Day last Saturday. Starts off with a parade, then a fried chicken dinner in the school cafeteria to benefit school activities, booths selling anything you can think of and some things you wouldn’t think of. DH always drives one of his antique cars in the parade. Perfect weather this year…cloudy and in the 60’s.
Good morning,
Gracious ya’ll had a grand time I know. Liked seeing the floats and especially the Tin Man in his unique suit, great imagination on that one. Bet those kids had a blast to ride in the parade.
Happy to see there are so many fire departments in a mountainous area, they are a great need for so many elderly when they have health problems and need assistance at times. Thank God
I’m in good health for my age and able to help others myself. I liked the red and black Clipper, I remember seeing them and the GAMBLER tag sure fits it, had a great chuckle over that. The
Car that is turquoise looks like an Edsol but I’m not sure. My grandfather Abbott had an old Ford Model T and my dad sold it after he died for $100.00 I was so upset with him , my husband
Wanted to buy it. Well, its time for me to get busy and do some more house work so I can have some fun doing crafty things later in the day. Have a great day and smile, we’re having a
Great life.
Phyllis Smith
Loved yesterdays photo’s and today’s were outstanding – would have loved to see a video of the fireman/policeman dancing in the street 🙂 We have a Lord Mayors parade once a year but nothing like yours! Thanks for taking the time to share once again 🙂
What a wonderful parade, great to see so many people involved. There used to be a parade in Gisborne where we used to live, in the summer, nothing as big as yours. And many years ago when I lived in NZ we had the Orange Festival parade once a year, I don’t know why it was called that as it had a very Scottish theme with pipe bands. But I remember it being quite long, lots of bands, floats, cars and fire engines.
You had a smashing parade. I grew up in a farming community, but we never had tractors in our parade! Come to think of it, maybe the only parade we had was for Christmas. Tractors would have been out of season in December.
I have got to come to the Apple Festival next year! What a great parade! It looked like so much FUN!!!! Thank you for sharing the wonderful pictures.
Lovely parade! Ah, the delights of a small town. Thank you for sharing this wonderful experience, it has me missing my small town roots.
How much fun! What a great community event!
Oh my gosh, your little town does it up right! Looks like a great time and lots of colorful participants in the parade. I would have been applauding our veterans, too. And firefighters and police. We are so grateful for our firefighting crews here in OR, another fire-filled summer.
Praying that you and your community come through ‘this storm safely. In the aftermath let your readers know of anything we can do to help folks get back to a normal life.
A terrific selection of photos of the parade. Thank you.
It is great to see events like this still alive and well. They are a wonderful way to bring a community together as well as provide great entertainment.