The highlights of our small town Memorial Day Parade included:
- All of the town’s fire engines, plus all the fire engines from the surrounding towns, sheriff’s cars, animal control, and the power company repair truck
- The Mayor, who most of the spectators knew by name,
- Miss Teen from every High School within 25 miles,
- The Marine Corps band from Paris Island who traveled over 200 miles to get here. The bus they traveled in was also in the parade, … and applauded,
- Older Veterans representing all of the major conflicts from the last 70 years, and all of the major Veterans groups,
- The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Local Youth Groups, and several unidentified groups of children waving flags who appear to have just joined the parade somewhere during its 5 block progress,
- An assortment of Military Trucks and including a Back Hoe from the local Reserve Center,
- A group of active duty Naval Personnel who had found their way over from the next state,
- Two flyovers by military jets drawing awes from the crowd, this was a big deal,
- And all of the canine residents from the local animal shelter along with an odd collection of horses with local riders and various restored old cars including a very handsome 1957 Chevy and several horse drawn carriages and wagons.
- And plenty of applause for everyone.

With enough enthusiasm, you can make a parade out of almost anything.

The contrast with life in a big city couldn’t have been sharper. There was something very innocent and charming about our little parade, not to mention that it took us 12 minutes to get there including parking one block from Main Street. Free parking of course.

When the opportunity to escape the Wash DC area first surfaced, my immediate reaction was to dismiss it. That would have been a mistake! What we found were people who said things to you like: “Good Morning” or “Can I help you.” We found a cost of living that was 96% of the national average vice the 128% in the DC area. We got twice the house for half the money and people who wave to you when you drive into the neighborhood. Our commuting time (before we retired) dropped to a third, and we have a total of 5 intersections in town that have some traffic backup during “rush” hour. Our crime rate is non-existent by big city standards.

While there are some aspects of big city life that we knew we would miss, it wasn’t hard to envision comfortably living here well into our 80’s and 90’s.

Pecos,

Glad you are enjoying your retirement!

I'm with you on the advantages of small town living. Our town (well, we live outside of town, but we still call it ours) is about 14,000 people, and has a lot of the features of a larger town (the good features). Lower cost, however, is not universal for things here. Our water bill tripled, for instance, and our food prices are higher (no competition in the grocery area), which is a bit ironic, being in the breadbasket of the world and all.

We are fortunate enough to live only about an hour away from Wichita (which is in the top 50 largest cities btw), so we also have access to some "big city" type stuff.

Small town parades are the best I think. We have a local tradition called "All Schools Day" that is held in the first part of May. It was established in the early 1900s as a way to honor all the 8th grade graduates without the county superintendent having to travel to each school. We have a nice parade, a carnival, and events held throughout the week prior to the parade. It's a lot of fun.

Pecos- your towns parade sounds like the one my town has for the holiday. Three of the churches from town also have their own contingent as well as all the youth groups. Of course all the town politicans make their way into the parade as well as some state officals.

I had not lived in a small town since I was a kid living in Troy, Idaho back in the late 1940's. I had completely forgotten what it was like. The difference between small town living and big city life is an eye opener.