Pegasus Parade

I've been to the Thursday afternoon parade associated with the Kentucky Derby Festival - the Pegasus Parade - including the first time by myself when I lived two blocks from the parade's start on east Broadway and the two years after that with Stephanie, Vincent, and Frisco (who was very poorly behaved both times - too large a crowd and too many horses). This year Stephanie and I didn't reach 3rd Street and Broadway - the middle of the route - in between the (majority white) east side of Broadway and the (majority black) west side of Broadway. (In the past, we've usually watched it on the west side). This is a somewhat working-class event that typically yields more trash than I've ever seen elsewhere in my life (but somehow most of it gets cleaned up). This time the very high winds were the big story - winds so strong that they weren't able to carry the usual, huge, inflated balloons (including the Pegasus balloon) in the parade. It never really rained, but the strong winds made the event kind of cooly surreal (even more so than usual). Some years it's been very hot.

This folks from a veteran's health organization had trouble holding onto the U.S. flag (below).

This tiny horse pulling a carriage (below) was one of hundreds of horses in the parade.

Behind all the horses were volunteers - many of them kids - ready to scoop up any trailing horse feces.

The Derby Festival has princesses and queens just like many other festivals (on a float below).

This is definitely one event (even more than Thunder) that mixes Anglos and African Americans. Many of the folks who live on the West side are African American, and I used to live in one of only three of four East side neighborhoods that were majoity African American. The parade starts right between my old Phoenix Hill and the adjacent Smoketown (where I volunteer to help do taxes), both African American neighborhoods.

The Derby City Rollers (below) combined hip hop rhythms with skillful skating and airborne acrobatics.

This couple was visiting Louisville for the Derby - combining pleasure with a couple of business meeting for him - from Springfield, IL, near where Stephanie and I used to live (briefly).

A troope of people trying to carry Spanish, Latin American, and Caribbean flags - from Spanish-speaking countries - but facing a lot of wind resistance - included a man carrying a Guatemalan flag (below). I saw no signs of hostility despite concern about "swine flu" transmission.

Many of the horseback riders wore colorful outfits (below).

Stephanie enjoyed the parade again this year (though we missed Vincent and Frisco somewhat).

The crazy Shriners - with their funny hats, loud parade mini-cars (below), and float mocking Middle Easterners - get on my nerves. But - in this era of shrinking communitiy involvement - they have managed to retain some members. And two of the hospitals they support - Children's Hospitals in Columbus (OH) and Louisville - have saved Vincent's life - when he was six weeks old and almost died from an electrolyte imbalance and two months ago when he losing it after getting kicked out of school. And the first time they didn't charge us!

The parade included a mock Abraham Lincoln (I didn't get a good picture) and a Mack truck with Lincoln exhibits inside. KY includes Lincoln's birthplace, and Louisville will unveil a large statue of a seated Lincoln in Waterfront Park - by famed local African American sculptor Ed Hamilton - whose studio is half a block from my old apartment, in Phoenix Hill - in June. We've invited Lincolnphile President Obama! (Readers with good memories may recall that we now have a Lincoln license plate on one of our cars.)

Happy Oaks Day, everyone!

-- Perry