7-5-2024
Our first Children’s Parade was a resounding success. The
weather was lovely with the sun shining but the temperatures in the low 70s, we
had about 65 participants. Everyone gathered outside the library at 1:30 to
decorate bikes, scooters, wagons, or strollers. We had red, white, and blue
streamers and garland staff had pre-cut, pin wheels we assembled, and tattoos
for the adventurous. I was deemed brave for applying one to my face. With the
parade before the actual holiday, it just allowed me to continue the
celebration.
Police Chief Jeremy Swendrowski led the parade on his
scooter. He even carried a pin wheel. The fire department made an early
appearance, they thought the parade was at 1:00. Unfortunately, they never made
it back for the real parade time. Our thoughts are with whoever needed them
more. Thank you to both departments for being part of the day, Trustee Santa
Consiglio and her guests from Albuquerque who wanted to see a small-town July 4th
and ended up handing out water and fruit snacks at parade’s end, and Miss Maria
for the idea.
The Lower Level’s facelift was completed the same day with
the addition of a blue and yellow, southwestern rug for the adult programming
side of the space. I took a chance in running to Home Depot to pick it up along
with the really long hose that will make watering both flower beds easier.
There is always a lot of extra set up after holiday weekends (four trips to
empty the book drop) and some cleanup from the festivities (left over wrappers and
other garbage from the parade and fireworks). This year was a breeze as Ryan
Holle’s FFA students were picking up trash when I arrived. They did a great
job.
The hose is all set up and ready to make lift easier. Every
year following their plant sale, Holle’s landscaping classes plant the flower
beds at the corner of West and Graydon for the library and Playmore Park. This
year the addition of our new landscaping in Nancy’s honor has added quite a bit
more watering until those plants are established. That area has added such
beauty to our space, that we are being very vigilant in maintaining it.
We need to thank Paul from Benchmark again for his work and
that of his crew. I wrote in an earlier article that he donated the paving
stones and labor. Now that the time has come to settle up, he waved off the
cost of materials as well and donated his company’s work on the entire project.
Paul tells me they do a couple projects for the community each year and this
was a fun one and while he didn’t know Miss Nancy, he could see that the
community cared for her.
Now I can find another project on which to spend those
funds. Stay tuned.
Reading Now: People You Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, There, There by Tommy Orange
Listening to Now: Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (Book Club meets next week)
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