{"id":1309,"date":"2012-05-25T08:43:05","date_gmt":"2012-05-25T15:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisathorpeartist.wordpress.com\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2012-05-25T08:43:05","modified_gmt":"2012-05-25T15:43:05","slug":"packing-parade-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisathorpe.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/25\/packing-parade-punch\/","title":{"rendered":"Packing Parade Punch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In honor of the Future Farmers Country Fair I drew this Chicken portrait on my iPad.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last night was Healdsburg\u2019s 63rd<\/sup> annual Twilight Parade.\u00a0 It is a small town tradition that has stayed close to its roots even as the town has changed around it.\u00a0 The parade is the kick off to the Future Farmers Country Fair that takes over the football field with food booths and kids from 4H and FFA showing animals.\u00a0 From an outsiders view this is a rinky-dink parade, there is absolutely nothing fancy about it.\u00a0 It has kids in martial arts clubs and preschoolers on truck beds; it has marching Veterans and Shiners too old to ride their little bikes any more, it has the High School band (my son plays trombone), parading wiener dogs and the workers at a hair salon launching an Electric Slide flash mob in front of the judges stands.\u00a0 But what it lacks in refinement it makes up for in heart.\u00a0 Whenever I meet a transplant to town I\u2019ll ask what they think of the Parade\u2026 if they poo-pooed it or didn\u2019t even bother to watch, well to be honest I\u2019m leery of these folks\u2026 on the other hand if they loved it and embraced the small town joy then I think \u201cthese are my kind of people\u201d.\u00a0 One of the best things about this parade is it is a great equalizer.\u00a0 The whole town comes out. The wealthy and the working class and everyone in-between, white, brown, tan, pink, everybody; I mean everybody is either in this parade or watching this parade.\u00a0 For a little background Healdsburg has a long history of being an agricultural town.\u00a0 Now it is know for wine and vineyards but in the last century it was dubbed \u201cThe Buckle in the Prune Belt\u201d.\u00a0 Along with the wine industry in the past 15-20 years Healdsburg has had a revolution of sort, it went from being a small farming town with a healthy Russian River vacation crowd to a five star restaurant, high heel boutique, hundred dollar bottle of wine town.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard it called \u201cThe Hamptons of the West\u201d and \u201cCarmel North\u201d.\u00a0 There are good things that have come with this transformation but there are bad things too.\u00a0 The center of town no longer has a practical function for ordinary Healdsburgians.\u00a0 The lower your income the less likely you are to ever set foot in one of the shops that line Healdsburg\u2019s lovely Plaza.\u00a0 This is a long explanation for why I love the Twilight Parade.\u00a0 This event is one of two Healdsburg days (the parade and 4th<\/sup> of July) in which the whole town comes out.\u00a0 It is free and everyone is involved.\u00a0 My family always parks a car on the parade route (you have to stake out a spot at least 2 days ahead) and then the day of the parade we switch out the car for folding tables, everyone gathers bringing munchies and nibbles, I provided the parade punch (there are those who bring spiking flasks, but that is personal preference).\u00a0 It\u2019s a fantastic tradition.\u00a0 Here is my Parade Punch recipe (don\u2019t be turned off by the Jello it\u2019s wonderful).<\/p>\n

Luscious Slush Parade Punch:<\/p>\n