The Birchrunville Parade

When I was a little girl, some friends of my parents started a 4th of July parade in our tiny town. There were no marching bands or government officials, just homemade floats and neighborhood folks, dressed up and walking through "downtown", which is actually just an intersection. This intersection is now home to the Birchrunville Cafe, which used to be a general store and still houses the post office, and an antique store, which at the time of the first parade was the home of it's initiators. My sister and cousins and I would decorate our bikes or dress up the dog for the event; one year we rollerskated!
In an area that was soon to be gobbled up by suburban sprawl, here was something wholesome and home-grown. Trouble is that that's how suburbs happen! Everybody wants the romance of small town life, yet with access to city excitement and without giving up any conveniences. There are a lot more people living in that area now than there where 25 years ago and everybody comes to the parade. I think it was even written up in the Philadelphia Inquirer several years ago. It's not the crowds that are ruining the parade, it's the suburban lack of originality. A few people still come out in their antique cars. A handful of kids still ride bikes and the local horseback riding instructor still makes a showing, but the majority of the "floats" are pick-ups full of tipsy men, women and children (well maybe not the young children) armed with all manner of water artillery. The adults seem to be regressing as they hose down the onlookers, and the children are dressed in aggressive pursuit of the maturity their parents seem to be fleeing.
As I become my own person, I have to revisit lots of holiday traditions. Is the thing that you did every year as a child still helping you pay homage to the return of the day, or is it making you lament the passing of time? Who knows where I'll be next year on the 4th, but it seems like for the Birchrunville parade, it's time to take a stand or get out of the way!