If you have not been to a parade in the rural Midwest you are missing out on something. You are not missing out on a lot. I spent 15-minutes at the Delaware County (Iowa) Fair Parade today. The parade went on for 1.5 - 2 hours. I missed the horses, and more.

The parade features firetrucks, old and new, ambulances, and squad cars too. This firetruck is an antique, an International, from a very tiny town north of us 15-miles:


In our town of 5,000, Henderson Mfg. manufactures equipment and modifies truck bodies with snowplow attachments, dump bodies, and salt/sand spreaders - (it's on the back and can't be seen here). Henderson Mfg. was purchased by Douglas Dynamics a few years ago. NYSE symbol: PLOW


There is an endless stream of tractors, old and new.

A local convenience store chain gets in on the parade, followed by tractors. I took this photo because my adult daughter moonlights for this company 35 miles away on alternate weekends. It was her college job, in her college town, and she liked the job and transferred to a different store after she got her doctorate and a job in her profession. The convenience store food is mostly unhealthy, but tasty; her store is two blocks from her apartment.

[MikeNArk]

Nice shots of the parade. We have similar parades here, but generally associated with the county fair. It's too hot here for parades.

[angkymac]

What you describe, and your photos show, is a strong emphasis on community.
I wish we could have just a touch of that in other places in this country!
Good showing!
Angky.

[mroeder75]

What you describe, and your photos show, is a strong emphasis on community.
I wish we could have just a touch of that in other places in this country!
Good showing!
Angky.

It is interesting you say this. This is a town of 5,000. I didn't grow up here.

We have some really good manufacturers. A plant that produces lead batteries mostly for farm implements, but probably some for automobiles. Henderson Mfg. as noted above with the dumpbodies / snowplow equipment. It's a heavy equipment manufacturer. We have a Rockwell Collins plant, now a division of Raytheon, which produces avionics, employing many women in manufacturing who solder parts to electronic boards, work that requires fine finger dexterity that many men with thicker fingers may not possess. We have Excel Specialized Trailers making trailers for special hauling needs - such as windmill equipment - and other big equipment, and Bradco Macmillan now owned by Stanley Tools producing ditch digging equipment (I think).

Our community does reasonably well with a diverse manufacturing base for a small Midwestern town. Having lived outside the Midwest I recognize the Midwest has a larger manufacturing base than exist in other parts of the United States, but it is somewhat surprising how much so in this small town.

I may be treading on dangerous water here, but touching on the other aspect of your post, we could use a stronger emphasis of community for the country as a whole. And, I will withhold my further comment.

---------- Post added 07-13-22 at 12:08 AM ----------

Nice shots of the parade. We have similar parades here, but generally associated with the county fair. It's too hot here for parades.

Weather was not so bad for this parade. The parade is one-half block from my house, and I am getting too old an impatient to stay for the entire thing, but there are worthwhile photo-ops.

Our town hosts the Iowa volunteer fire dept convention frequently and when we do, the firefighter's parade goes down the same street, one-half block away, with scores of antique, and modern, fire-fighting equipment, and is very cool. There are a lot of volunteer firefighters wandering the town the week of the convention acting as if this is New Orleans, but it is not, and Manchester is not nearly so fun. But, they have no difficulty finding all the watering holes.