The Parade

Linda and Roy Chrisman organized this float for the Halloween parade in Lehighton. It is supposed to be a switchback train car. Jim Thorpe had a steam and gravity powered one back before the turn of the century. Kind of like a rollercoaster for loggers. They put a cardboard cut out of Obama in the back of the float, as if he is on a whistle stop tour. Almost everyone in town came out for the parade. One reason is that almost all the marchers throw free candy out to the crowd. The kids know this and were out there in force. And there were lots of marchers; a couple of motorcyle gangs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, a guy like easy rider with a huge flag attached to his bike, little girl acrobats doing all kinds of impossible flips and handstands, an armada of classic cars, and plenty of giant trucks.

At the last minute Roy came up with the idea of having a man in an Obama mask, surrounded by secret service agents, waving to the crowd behind the float. The mask they got was unbelievably magnetic. You could see it from a mile away. The smile was just beaming. I trailed along behind the float to gage the crowds response. The McCain float was just a bunch of big signs. You can't get health care from the Republicans. You can't get out of Iraq or sensible regulation of industry, but you can always get a free giant sign. People didn't react much to them but the Obama mask drew cheers and laughter and mockery.