Memorial Parade!

Memorial Day Parade!

A few Saturdays ago I had the pleasure of witnessing a very highly recommended event in the Rogue Valley, Grants Pass. I mean highly recommended for family friendly events.  Boatnik is an annual event that happens every Memorial Day weekend and starts with a carnival on Thursday and fireworks display on the Friday night over the river. We were happy to witness a wonderful parade complete with lots of handed out candies for the kids and beautiful racing boats and cars for the older kids. There was also an absolutely adorable display of the local schools bands surprising you with there awesome talent. In fact Boatnik (<--- official website) is all about the kids. "All funds raised by the Grants Pass Active Club from Boatnik are returned to the community by supporting local children and youth programs." Straight out of the website. The whole weekend has carnivals in the park and boat racing displays through Monday.

We all stood for the flag to pass at the beginning, but that didn't last long. lol. I ended getting up and down a lot to take pictures, and the kids were the same to gather candies being thrown at them.







If you are planning on going in the future. Make sure to bring places to sit, and get there an hour early. Also allow a 3 hour block of time in your scheduled for the day, because the parade can last up to 2 and a half hours, and its very popular so there will be a lot of traffic. 
Oh and bring a little cash for food stuff is sold, and water because it gets hot, and will balance out all the sugar that may (or most likely) will be consumed.
Fortunately for us it was only in the 70's this year and there was a light breeze.

Old Jet engine. Really cool and powerful looking.

Gathering candy

Jonathan and I had the pleasure of experiencing this event with our family the Guevara's. They have 3 awesome children, the oldest being Trinity, then Nickolas, and Eddie. They were really entertaining and made the parade a lot of fun. Its always fun to watch younglings light up and get excited, just like we use to do.

We also took Rosie! It was her first major outing with a big crowd and a lot of other dogs. I think she did really well for her first time. Though she was totally over it by the end. We were luck to have Kari and Maurice there to help, since puppies of course can be a handful. And I guess they have had a lot of practice ranging in little excited bodies since they have 3 other cuties they are experienced at keeping track of.

 Rosie loves the kids. In fact they play tag and wear each other out. It's a mutual positive for us parents as well. Since after they are like the dead, which is nice. Some peace and quite is nice.

I took a lot of pictures, so I will put some highlights of what was the coolest her, mind you there were a lot of cool things to look at and enjoy. There were a ton of cool cars and racing boats that would rev up there engines whenever they passed. The kids and dogs thought they were exciting and frightening all at once.

And same with the clowns. Actually the clowns were closer to the end and they were really cool, not really scary.

Friendly clowns

The Cave Men Towing company was a big highlight. They had men and woman dressed up as cave people and this one tow truck pulling 9 other truck/cars. It was surprising and awesome. At least you know for sure they can get the job done.

Everyone looks forward to Memorial Day because it signifies to many the start of the summer fun. It's an awesome 3 day weekend for most, and is most likely spent attending wonderfully put on events like this one with family and friends. But let us not forget why this day was created.

In remembrance to all those who have fought and died for our country, freedom, and way of life.
Thank you.