I think this might be the 43rd annual Christmas Parade in Maynard. It was started in 1966 (give or take a year) by Philip Bohunicky (aka Fleepo the Clown). Phil was inspired to create the parade based on a memory he had of a parade he watched as a young boy (he had snuck out of the orphanage with a friend to watch the parade). The parade started with a big red fire engine, and, to this day, the parade begins with a series of fire engines from Maynard and surrounding towns blaring their sirens to the (general) delight of the kids along the way. [I should note that Phil passed away in 2004, but the parade continues as a Maynard tradition.]
Way too many more photos of this event are available at: [url]http://community.dmg-photography.com/2009-christmas-parade[/url]
The Maynard Area Auto Club provides a number of classic cars for folks to ride in.
The parade’s Grand Marshall was Celtics great Jo Jo White (1969-1978), who owns a restaurant in our little town.
The local American Legion had a wonderful float commemorating the men and women from Maynard who are currently serving in the Armed Forces.
I haven’t yet figured out the high school band’s theme for the parade…
I can’t resist a couple of technical notes…
The parade starts at 2pm and heads east down Main Street, loops around downtown, and then returns. This means when everybody is fresh and happy they are backlit and when they are tired and cold they are bathed in gorgeous afternoon winter light. It’s all just rather cruel.
Cameras were Canon 1D Mark 2 with the 70-200mm f/2.8L and the Canon 5D Mark 2 with the 24-70mm f/2.8L. Aperture priority for the first (backlit) stage, and manual exposure for the 2nd (nicely lit) stage. I shot some handheld video clips at the beginning of the parade, but it looked horrible so I trashed them.
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by Dave
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