Back Around the House II: Annie Oakley Days a favorite

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I do believe that the Annie Oakley Days celebration is one of my favorite holidays. There’s something for everyone. My personal favorites are the sidewalk sales, the flea market, and food, and the parade.

We do the sidewalk sales on Thursday. Strolling down Broadway from store to store, looking over the bargains; outside is my kind of fun. Bill walks along with me, or a block ahead of me. He does more walking. I do more looking.

Then on Friday we park in the lot across the road from the Museum and take in the Flea Market. We go down the antique aisles and look at the prices on dishes and things we either gave away or paid someone to haul away years ago.

Half way through we stop to have a sandwich and a drink at the St. Mary’s School Stand. Then we look over the crafts and the “junk‘. We never go home empty handed… We punctuate we prepare

The eating and the looking by chatting with friends we meet along the way.

We spend most of Saturday shopping for and preparing the food for after the parade on Sunday.

We prepare for the parade early Sunday by driving down to Broadway and setting out a bunch of chairs to reserve seats for the greatest show in Greenville.

About one o‘clock some of us walk or drive downtown to begin our vigil for the parade. There we observe the traffic up and down Broadway. It occurred to me that this might be the solution to the cruising problems up and down Broadway on Saturday nights. Let parents sit in lawn chairs; on Broadway to observe their kids.

While we watch and wait, we munch on fruit, pretzels and candy. This year we took along a gallon jug of ice water and some cups. The first drinkers said the water tasted strange. I was fraid it was soapy from the scrubbing before filling. Actually it was the root beer in the jug before the scrubbing.

Finally the parade!

If there’s anything more fun than a parade, it’s watching; a two year old watching a parade. This year our resident two-year-old is our youngest granddaughter. She waved at everybody, including pop and balloon salespeople. And when the bands played by, she bopped so hard in her stroller we had to take her out of it. Then she danced in the street!

By the time she; had begun to wind down, her sixteen-months-old cousin, our sixteen months old grandson had arrived. He was fascinated by the Shriner’s miniature vehicles, and he barked at the horses. Yes, that’s right. He thinks anything with four legs and hair is a dog, so he barks at it.

The rest of us stood when our flag marched by, yelled at the people we knew in the parade, and clapped for the performers.

It’s a great show!

After the parade some of us walk home while others haul chairs and people back to the house. Then we wind up the festivities with food and games in the back yard, in the house, and in the front porch with family, friends, and whoever happens to drop in.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This column was first published in the Greenville Advocate on July 31, 1996

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By Kathleen Floyd

Back Around the House II

Kathleen Floyd is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves Daily Advocate readers weekly with her column Back Around the House II. She can be reached at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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