4th of July Parade Report – James Y. (Scorpions)
On a Sunday morning, July 4th, at around 8:00 AM, we gathered at St. Francis Church. Once we were all here, we carpooled to Washington D.C. for the 4th of July Parade.
We took our banners and flags and went to 16th Street to practice doing honor guard duty. It rained until 10:30 AM, and the parade was postponed until 11:30. We practiced marching and saluting in the middle of the street.
Our tallest people held our flags looking straight ahead, while the younger peopleheld the troop banner next to them at an angle. We took several pictures, some with some important people.
When it was finally 11:30, the announcer had a few people sing songs in the middle of the street. When it was our turn, we marched to the center of the street while the announcer introduced what we did along with our service projects. We saluted as someone sang the National Anthem, stayed where we were for the Pledge of Allegiance, and then marched back to our spot.
After that, we hiked to 4th Street to begin marching in the parade. Some other troop joined us who were a band playing
troop, and they seemed to have different flag rules and everything. However, we still marched with them through the streets. Our banners would be side by side, the flags would be in the front, their band would be next, and our entire troop along with some flags would be last. We kept marching, but sometimes we had to stop because everybody kept stopping. It was hot and everyone was sweaty. We marched back to 18th street, where people gave us water and a giant fan sprinkled som
e water and cold air. Then, we packed up our banners and flags, and loaded back into our cars and went home.
Even though it was hot and we didn’t stop for lunch because we ended at 2:30, the 4th of July Parade was fun to participate in while having crowds of people cheer for you at every turn.
