Rained On Parade

The Prescott Rodeo is being held this first week of July. Today was the rodeo parade.

I arrived early for the nine starting time -- about 45 minutes early. Along the street, gazebos and canopies were already set up along the sides of the streets. They had claimed their space. Soon the parade watchers arrived with their coolers and chairs and settled under the gazebos and out of the sun.

Considering there are horses in a rodeo parade, this was a must do event for me with a love for the beauty and perceived freedom of a horse.

The Prescott Rodeo parade was an opportunity to see horses curried and combed and wearing their best leathers. Some of the riders were also combed and well dressed.

After the color guard the second entry in the parade was this wagon from Cedar City Utah towed by Cedar Ranch Shires.

Following that was one of the better dressed participants in the parade -- the Rodeo Queen.

 

Although there were other modern day fire trucks in the parade, here is an antique fire truck.

Each weekend when I go to Prescott's farmer's market (at Yavapai College) I see this aging hippie with his burro and dog. With the peace symbol on a rainbow flag and wearing hurache sandals, he would have no problem fitting into a hippie commune of the 1960s.

 

There were several entries commemorating the nineteen lives of the Prescott Hot Shot fire crew that died just a year ago in the Yarnell fire. This was one of those entries.

This guy put his horse on auto pilot and leaned back in the saddle.

Like this duo, there were many well dressed riders and several in period attire.

 

What is a parade without some ancient tractors. This 1950 International Harvester Model H is a bit newer than the 1946 model I drove back on the farm.

These mountain men came down for this rendezvous (Prescott Rodeo) to trade for supplies and show off their attire and their very attractive horses.

The crumbs from some donuts provided treasures for the ants on a retaining wall. This photo is to share the macro capabilities of my Canon PowerShot SX700.

Soon the clouds were building and providing welcome shade to the parade watchers without canopies or gazebos. One of those was me. I was very thankful. However, with clouds came drops of rain. Not enough to dampen anyone's pleasure of watching the parade.

It didn't take long for the monsoon clouds to release lots of rain. The kindness of strangers invited me and others to join them in their gazebo to stay drier. Standing on the edge of the gazebo, my back side was getting wet and my shoes were soaked because I was standing in a stream of water flowing at the edge of the street.

It was now two hours into the parade and there may have been another half hour left. These are just one of those entries that have another half hour of cold wet riding ahead of them. Those are raindrops appearing in the photo. That is not Photoshop.

Soon there was more space between rain drops. It didn't really matter since I was already well soaked so I started the six to seven block walk back to Oyster -- my car.

On the way to the car this mountain stream on the street provided my last photo op.

I didn't hear any complaints about the rain. Most people welcomed the moisture and the cooler weather of monsoon season.

It may have rained on the end of the Prescott Rodeo parade, but it was great to be out and enjoying the experience.