Saturday, November 17, 2018

Santa Claus came to town


Both Wilkes-Barre and Scranton had their Christmas parades today. It used to be traditional to have the parade the weekend after Thanksgiving, but that would interfere too much with commerce. For the first time in as long as I can remember, there was snow on the ground for the parade. Just a few years ago, temperatures were in the 70s, and paradegoers wore summer clothes.

I think it used to be that these two cities would hold their parades on different weekends so they weren't competing with each other. Maybe that's the St. Patrick's Day parade I'm thinking of. You certainly wouldn't want anyone driving from the Scranton parade to Wilkes-Barre - or, really, anywhere. People get very, very drunk in Scranton during the St. Patrick's Day parade.

I remember Nanticoke's Christmas parades from when I was a kid. They were never huge affairs, but they would be fun, and a lot of local politicians and eccentrics would take part - including the guy on a bicycle who towed an outhouse around. I haven't been to one of the parades in decades, but apparently they still take place.


  Maybe I'll try to go there this year.

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