Maybe the gods (or the Founders: same thing) were sending a message. Maybe they were suggesting that July 4 was no day for an Independence Day parade. About 10 minutes into Flagler Beach’s traditional salute to the nation’s birthday in floats, horns, horses, and local heroes, clouds darker than menace started mobilizing offshore, their staging sky a flare’s distance from the pier, where Ralph Santore and his crew were setting up the evening’s fireworks.
Thirty minutes into it they were almost overhead, though hardly anyone was paying attention. Whatever the calendar said at that moment, the scene down A1A was all July 4th, a happy storm of reds and whites and blues latched on vintage cars, freshly minted Miss Flagler County winners, cop cars and cop bikes and cop horses, dancers, roller derby gals, veterans, celebrants of African-American culture, the usual string of politicians or political wannabes running for one thing or another, plus the obligatory tow trucks and other vehicles big on noise and flashing lights. At least there were no tanks, which would probably crumble what’s left of A1A beneath them.
But what didn’t crumble beneath crumbled above. Forty minutes into the parade, and with 20 minutes of revelers still making their way down from the staging grounds at Maria del Mar Catholic Church, the skies opened up. It was no drizzly rain. It was the definition of downpour, a slam of thick drops whipped up by an easterly wind that soaked everything and everyone in a matter of moments. The thousands (and there were thousands) who’d lined up A1A lunged for anything resembling shelter, filling up bars and restaurants and shops and any storefront with an awning, though a good number of people, children collecting candy thrown from floats and cars and trucks especially, braved through the remaining 20 minutes.
Enough words. Parades in print are all the same, but in images (and in reality), no two parades are ever alike, and that what you want to see. A picture gallery will post soon below.
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MARIANO FAJARDO says
I TOUGHT IT WAS THE 4TH OF JULY NOT THE 3RD WHEN DID THIS CHANGE…….
some guy says
Yes the 4th should be on the 4th not the 3rd and a tank would have been cool the FCSO has one!
JUST ME says
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO STANDING UP AND PUTTING YOUR HAND OVER YOUR HEART AS THE AMERICAN FLAG WENT BY?
dilligaf says
well president oboma was not up there with his crouch salute . how can you be president of the usa comander and cheif and you can even salute the flag or put you hand over your heart .
the guy in the photo says
Hey Just me, you shouldn’t comment on things you don’t know about. the flag is stationary it didnt just pass by. You and dilligaf should refrain from commenting on things just to comment.
AACHMED says
Hey Guy in the Picture, Why Dont You Stay in Palm Coast and Watch the Parade at WallMart, and then Mosey on Down to the FireWorks in the Parking Lot of the “Town Center”! We Dont need the Massive MESS You all Leave here Beachside Anyway! As for our Flag, It Does Not have to be Passing Anything for Someone to Salute It !, But We Lead By Example So if the Sorry President We Have Wont Do it then I guess You’d Be Right up his Alley!!!
Pierre Tristam says
Aachmed, unless the United States has suddenly become an annex of North Korea, there’s no rule — no rule that any of us have to abide by — that requires anyone to salute, stand at attention, pick his nose or think of french fries whether the flag is passing by or is stationary and going limp in the wind. The flag, remember, represents first and foremost our freedoms as we individually wish them to be. Those who wish to salute it may do so. Those who don’t are equally free not to do so, and are no less American for it. That includes burning the flag if anyone so wishes. That may be crass. It may be insulting. It’s also what the flag stands for. Military rules about flag-waving don’t, thank heavens, apply to us civilians, nor do whatever arbitrary rules you may impose or invent. So do me a favor: respect the guy in the photo before insulting him (and have a heart: he’s taking care of his child, which is a hell of a lot more important than any flag any day) or anyone else who may have happened to be in Flagler Beach, which is no more your town than it is anyone’s from anywhere. With a name like Aachmed, you should know better: if, like me, you hail from Arab or Mideastern lands, you should have a better appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy in our adoptive land. If you’re just using the name for the hell of it, you still should know better than to be contemptuous of other people’s freedoms, on the 4th of July of all days. If it’s a flag you stand for, it certainly isn’t ours.
Strling09 says
Evidently you have not been here long. Why is everyone so upset on wether its on the 3rd or on the 4th. There has been in some recent years past that the entire weekend was a 3 day event with the fire works maybe shot on the 5th. So what makes the difference you all get to party at the expense of Flagler Beach city employees having to clean up your mess. There is no more better show than the one that is a little town of 5000 that welcomes 35000 to 50000 to come in and tie up traffic and make a mess and just leave so the little town can put itself back together and get ready to look for next year. Flagler Beach is AMERICA and thats what it is al about.
the guy in the photo says
Aachmed I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
What makes you think I don’t live in Flagler Beach? Was it not good enough that I stood in the rain with my three year old son to applaud the men in uniform such as the Marines who were marching who defended our country years ago? I for one think its great that people from all over the country visit Flagler Beach and spend money.
some guy says
Come on get real its a 4th of JULY parade you would not be able to salut or hold your hand over your heart for all or 1/4 of the flags you see
Dmitriy Shevchenko says
Although wet and windy, this parade was a lot of fun. I’m very excited that Sunshine Academy won Best Children’s Entry 2 years in a row. Congratulations to all participants and a special thanks to all those that “stuck it out” in the rain with us.
a woman says
thats my sister