Here in Calhoun County, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer, which means it is almost time for the Fall Festival Parade. Every year the people of Calhoun County have a Fall Festival Parade to mark the end of fall and the beginning of winter.  It is also held as close as it can be to the 31st of October.  This means that the little children get a chance to do their trick-or-treating in a safe non-threatening atmosphere.

The parade usually starts with a Calhoun County sheriff's car, followed by the members of the VFW carrying the Flag. Which is followed by an ambulance and a fire truck then the assorted floats and persons running for political office, who like to throw candy to the children and adults as they pass by.

This usually works out well, except for the year there was a wreck out on Route 52.  Someone called the Calhoun County Sheriff's office and reported the wreck and the only vehicle that was available to respond with the one at the head of the parade. 

(Now it must be mentioned here that the signal for the beginning of all Festival Parades is the Calhoun County sheriff's vehicle turning on its lights and siren and proceeding slowly down the street.  After this, the VFW starts out with the Flag. In Calhoun County, there are no young people in the VFW.  So most of the members are from World War II or Vietnam or Korea, which means all the members of the VFW have several miles on them, to put it bluntly.) 

So when the Calhoun County sheriff's car took off to go to the wreck, the members of the VFW presumed the parade was starting and began smartly marching behind the sheriff’s vehicle.  This would have worked out well had the Calhoun County sheriff's vehicle not increased its speed as it proceeded out of town.

It was quite a sight to see those members of the VFW attempting to keep up with the Calhoun County sheriff’s vehicle.  However, it did not take them long to discover this was not the beginning of the parade, but the Calhoun County sheriff vehicle going someplace on an emergency call.  To say the least, it was a fortunate occurrence that the local ambulance was right behind the VFW.  You do, however, have to give the members of the VFW credit. They managed to keep up with the Calhoun County sheriff's car for at least three blocks.

Needless to say that year, the Fall Festival Parade was in somewhat of a disarray.  But you must give credit to the parade organizers for getting things back together in a short order.  After the members of the VFW were resuscitated, the parade organizers put the ambulance at the head of the parade and carried on from there.  So the Calhoun County sheriff's car was hardly missed.  I can only say it was a good fortune of luck that the ambulance was not also needed at the wreck.

The Fall Festival Parade has gone by for another year. Shortly, Mike Miller will come out to hose down the streets and sidewalks and remove the litter that was left behind from the parade.  The children will be at home with their bags of candy that they picked up at the parade.  The parents will be enjoying a last cup of hot apple cider before they go to bed and another Fall Festival Parade will be over with.

That's the way things go here in Calhoun County; they move with the seasons.  The next big thing to go on will be the Christmas pageant at the Our Lady of the Redeemer Catholic Church and Bingo Parlor.  We sort of like it that way; it doesn't complicate things and you always know where you stand by the calendar on the wall.  I reckon if it was any different, we might get bit confused.

© 10/17/2005 Tina L. Rice