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Groton Fourth of July Parade

The Groton Federation of Democratic Women (Mrs. CTBlue, president) had a float in the Groton 4th of July Parade, and my assignment was to document the festivities in pixels. Truth be told, every part of the Parade route has problems from a photographic perspective. It’s best to take pictures from at least a slight elevation. The parade route, for the most part, is flat as a pancake. I went to the end of the route so I could give my wife a ride home, and ended up standing on the base of the sign in front of Christopher’s Restaurant. It was a good angle, but an ugly background.

This year we had what was supposed to be a Mama and Daughter donkey marching with the gals, but at the last minute one of them was converted to a cigar smoking male. The costumes were created by Fran Derrera (bodies) and Merritt Ball (heads). They were worn by Nancy Driscoll’s grandsons, Haven and Jason.

Once again, all pictures will enlarge if you click on them. The colors are much better in the bigger pictures, by the way.

Here’s Merritt and the kids:

And the Donkeys themselves:

Betsy Moukawsher and Mary von Dorster getting the “float” ready:

Ditto Nancy Driscoll, and her son Wayne, who drove the float:

Alex Moukawsher shows his colors:

Now, the parade begins. Some Sub vets. What would a Groton parade be without them?

State Senator Andy Maynard (D):

Groton City Council Members:

My neighbor, Leo Gibson, in his antique car:

Kids from the City:

One of two fife and drum corps in the whole parade. What is this country coming to? A small contingent, but they made up for that in spirit. They played pretty well. I’m not sure where they’re from.

The other fife and drum corps, Civil War style:

Battling Knights and a very all man:

And finally, the Federation’s float in all it’s glory:

If the Republicans did anything, I didn’t see it.