Horn Lake, MS Christmas Parade

- By Bill C.

DEC 4,004  Horn Lake, MS - Our special event this time around was the annual Christmas Parade in Horn Lake, MS, with a theme of "Ringing in Freedom."

The first item of the day was a caravan of some of our participating members. We met at our usual, Exxon Tiger Mart on Summer and White Station. We were running short on time, barely having time to say hello. Bobby B. was having some problems with one of his VWs he meant to bring and was running even later than the rest of us. So, we devised a plan to meet him on the way, somewhere along the interstate. So, the rest of us lined up and headed out. Included, in no particular order, were John M. (White Cabriolet) & his daughter, Dee F. (Plum Ghia Monster),  Ron & Barbara S. (Mello Yello NuBee Convertible), Phillip & Mona S. (Teal Bug & Blue NuBee), my wife Connie & Nancy T. (Verty), and myself (Lightnin') with my grandson Riley (aka "Ri-Ri") navigating. We caught up with Bobby & his sons ('58 Bug) on the interstate near Mt. Moriah, where he dove in line with us. There was nothing but some steady motoring the rest of the way. But it was a pretty site seeing a line of VWs cruising down the big highway. We arrived at the Horn Lake Library right on time, where we met the rest of our troop.

Wendy C. & family were there with 2 VWs (Pearl & Toad). Also, were Ricky B. (57 Oval), Larue & Evelyn H.t (Westy), Ralph M. (Ghia Vert), Harold W. and family (Bug Vert), and Bill & Ruth A. (passengers). In honor of our troops, we had planned to display yellow ribbons on our VWs. But there were none in Memphis to be had. But Connie & Nancy came to the rescue and volunteered to spend some evenings making them. So we passed them out and on they went.

We got our entry number (#66) and I was not near finished decorating when an official made me aware of a very unfortunate "misunderstanding" on my part. Yes, I totally messed up. I had announced the parade starting at 11 A.M. But… it was to start at 10 a.m.! We only had a few minutes to get to our (very small & crowded) staging position. Hoh boy… little more stress. Fun!

The officials allowed us to borrow the curb space intended for the Girl Scouts in position #65, and even park on both sides of the street. But we still only had room for 6 cars; the other 8 had to wait in a side lot until we started. Bummer. It threw a wet towel on the pre-parade socializing and story/lie swapping. I also got in trouble with Connie for the time mix up. See, the "queen" of her Red Hat Society group was to meet her and ride in Verty with her and Nancy (also Red Hatters). But they were to meet at the Library... which we had already left. Gulp... when Mama ain't happy, ain't NObody happy. Thank goodness, just as we were pulling away to start crawling along the parade route, Queen Maria was seen chasing us down. So, we, literally, stopped a parade as the boarding of her coach (aka Verty) ensued. Ha!

Since we were fortunate to have so many VWs, we ran (crawled) the route two abreast.  This allowed us to only have to toss candy out one side of the vehicles. However, the crowd kept pressing into the 5-lane street... our horns honking all the way.

Then, a VERY scary moment for yours truly. Even though we were only doing, a mile an hour, if we were lucky, my heart took a leap. Just as I glanced to the side for a split second, a toddler darted out of the crowd, right in front of Lightning, not 3 feet ahead of me. I am not talking sort of headed out there.... I mean right, square in front of me. Thank goodness we had a walking parade official right there. I don't know which happened first; but I slammed on the brakes and the official snatched up the little one like a storybook hero saving a baby from a freight train. Woo!  I'm getting ill, just thinking about it.

So after that, we had plenty of escorts to move folks out of the way. It still amazes me how some did not equate danger with walking in front of moving cars. I will not be surprised to see something change in their policies for next year's parade.

 Hey! We still had fun; throwing candy at.. I mean.. To       the kids; Bobby's crew and I managed to have a candy fight to add some excitement while waiting to move; the Queen brought her pooch, decked out in shades and a Santa hat, which was very popular with the crowd; Ricky B., his passenger and Oval got on the evening news on Channel 3... along with the club door sign and also Wendy's Pearl in the background. Ri-Ri thought it was neat to chew whatever bubblegum he didn't toss to the crowd, in between eating chocolate (argh!) donuts in PaPa's Lightning. “Here. Want some Papa?”

After removing all the car-pretties, we finally headed over to CiCis on Goodman at Swinnea for a well-deserved lunch and some good socializing (finally). Though it may not be a 4-star restaurant, they could handle the crowd and we didn't have to wait. I think everybody was happy, since I did notice a lot of the VWs riding a little lower as they left the place. . I think I saw Santa in one of them! All I want for Christmas is a long winter’s nap. Merry Christmas! Enjoy the few pictures that I could squeeze in on the following page. Bill

 
Wendy C’s “Pearl”

Wendy’s Hubby & son in their Vanagon

Bobby B’s sons waited in his ’58 Ragtop for things to get started