100th Annual All School's Day

Since I haven't posted for months, I figure I can fill this post with tons of pictures to make up for it, right? I have so many life events to catch up on the blog, but I'm trying to keep them in order. Gotta' start somewhere.

 

All School's Day is our HUGE hometown celebration, held the 2nd Friday of May each year. Literally thousands of people line Main Street for the famous 2+ hour parade--this year there were reports that our little town swelled to 25,000 strong to celebrate the 100th Annual All School's Day celebration. I know it's not the same for those who didn't grow up here, but it is just so awesome. And I've said this before, but getting to see the joy of the festivities through our children's eyes makes it even more special.

 

So...every kindergarten class in the county builds a float coordinating with the ASD theme. The Allen and Buchman SUCKERS volunteered to chair the St. Joseph Catholic School float. After all, this was the 100th year--we wanted a hand in making this float special for our kiddos. We're given a $400 budget (which really doesn't go very far when you're buying petal paper, lumber and chicken wire!) and a pile of supplies that look like this...

...and the goal is to come up with a creative masterpiece that will be pleasing to the eye, ties in with the theme "Celebrating 100 Years!", is not too tall/wide to get out of the garage door where it's built, strong enough to withstand a trip across town and any weather elements that may be present the day of the parade--and oh yeah--we have to be able to fit about 50 kids and 2 adults on there somewhere! Quite the task!

 

Our first job was coming up with an idea and some more suckers to help us tackle this job. After a couple of meetings, we settled on a Dr. Suess themed float and focused on the phrase "A Celebration of Imagination."

 We had the best crew of parents we could have ever hoped for...and I think we all had a fun time working and getting to know the other parents!

 

Many work nights later, we presented a float to our kindergarteners that made them beam and made us proud.

And God gave us a BEAUTIFUL day to drive our float down Main St. The 100th annual celebration did not disappoint! 

 Hayden's very first ASD just happened to be a very special one!

 There were a few finishing touches before the parade started...making sure those fish were flying!

 A few of the dads who were key players in pulling this project together--Jake, Chris & Chet.

 Carter's best buddy Ian was the prince for the McPherson Royalty float.

 Meanwhile, further down the parade route, some future kindergarteners were VERY excited to get the show started!

 

The floats were awesome! Lots of variety, color and hard work.

 This was the grand prize winner--Canton-Galva Elementary--very nice!

 Our nephew Tyler enjoying the sights and sounds of ASD.

 Here comes the one we've been waiting for!

 The daddies drove the truck that pulled our float.

Our float ended up winning the prize for Best Use of Color--it was very colorful indeed! :)

 My Aunt Deb who came all the way from Lee's Summit, MO for the festivities.

 As a part of the 100th anniversary, they honored past May Queens by having them ride in the parade as well. Yours truly was the 1998 May Queen, shown here with Dede Seibel (1996) and Shayna Baldwin (2000).

 My sister with Mike the Clown...an ASD staple.

 My parents, my aunt and uncle and my grandparents.

 Another MAJOR part of this year's parade for our family--my Aunt Deb happened to be celebrating her 50th birthday that weekend, and as a surprise, my uncle had her parents from New Jersey flown in to celebrate with her. Deb's parents laid low in a hotel the night before the parade, we secretly got them to the parade route that morning, and they drove my dad's golf cart in the parade with a sign on it announcing Deb's 50th birthday.

 Deb had absolutely no idea...this was her reaction as she's starting to recognize that she's seeing HER PARENTS in this parade, thousands of miles and many states away from their home.

 Complete and utter disbelief. And as you can see, one of the news stations had caught wind of this story before the parade began, so Deb had a news camera in her face from the moment her parents appeared. They also ran a segment about her on the news that evening--so cool!

 And just a few more from the parade...