The Halloween Parade

The ghosties and ghoulies were out in force at the Rutland Halloween Parade.

And so were the angels.

I did not get good pictures, but there were some good floats.  We got into town 45 minutes before the parade started to stake out a spot by the curb.  It was cold, but we bundled up.  The atmosphere was festive--lots of costumes, music playing, excited kids. 

Once the parade started, this woman stepped out onto the street directly in front of Mike.  He was not thrilled with the view.

There were several kids, hoping for some candy, lined up in front of us.  They were cute.  Unfortunately, their parents (Not the behind seen here) would run out to coach the kids on the best begging techniques to maximize the likelihood of being noticed by the candy distributors.  Good grief.  One kid was terrified by a skeleton that passed by and his mother actually pushed him back out on the street with orders to "Get more candy!"  These were well-heeled, otherwise intelligent sounding people.  We just had to move because we really were getting disgusted.  The parade got a lot more enjoyable after that.  We were toward the back of the sidewalk but we could actually see the parade better because the crowd at the second corner actually seemed interested in watching the parade.