The Valley of Flowers Parade: a long, strange & very fun trip

Here it is: float #118 in the 2010 Valley of Flowers Parade, my own creative homage to the event's "Landmarks of the World" theme.

It’s one thing to run a blog about North County. It’s something else all together to spend two hours slowly driving past thousands of North County parade goers.

I had a “float” in the Valley of Flowers Parade yesterday, meaning I installed a foam Stonehenge (made from recycled couch cushions!) atop my husband’s 1965 Rambler station wagon and basically spent the afternoon driving at a snail’s pace through half of Florissant. The theme was “Landmarks of the World.”

To be honest, I hadn’t been to the Valley of Flowers Parade since marching in it with my tap dance class in 1980, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now that I’ve completed my second parade, I can tell you what stood out: the sheer volume of people!

The crowds were pretty healthy along Waterford and Parker – certainly in the hundreds – but when I turned the corner onto Florissant Road, holy cow! I was truly taken aback. People were shoulder to shoulder, sometimes several deep, but all I could think was, “Ugh! The street is so wide, nobody can see my NOCO signs!” That problem quickly dissipated when I turned onto St. Francois, where the crowds grew even larger (and drunker?) and I often found myself driving within inches of parade goers.

Valley of Flowers is a weird parade in that way, going from narrow street to wide street to really narrow street then back to wide street again. One minute you’re yelling to say hello; the next minute you’re having strange women walk up and mouth-kiss your dog.

That’s right. My sweet old Lab rode along with me during the parade and she was definitely the star of the show. Always a trooper, she lasted almost the entire route, posing for photos and getting petted countless times before finally falling asleep.

Without her, I think many people would have barely noticed me driving by. For one, I had the third to last spot in the parade. For two, I happened to be right in front of the giant shopping cart…so guess what grabbed more attention? And three, I realize now I didn’t have nearly enough NOCO signs on my car.

I thought I’d let the Rambler’s vintage beauty shine through and not clutter it up too much. But because of that decision, I spent much of the parade fielding questions: What are those rocks on your car? What does NOCO stand for? And my favorite…Are you the girl who does that North County Facebook page? As if NOCO is only on Facebook.

What I learned from this experience is that when you’re driving in a parade, you can hear everything being said on the side of the road. (Who knew so many folks have had sex in the back of a Rambler? Yikes.) I also learned that despite seven months of me building and steadily improving the NOCO website, there are still lots of North County residents who still don’t have a clue that it exists.

Participating in the Valley of Flowers Parade was supposed to help promote NOCO, and I think it probably did. It also reinforced my vision of North County as a diverse community with many, many bizarre and interesting characters.

Along the parade route, I saw people of all creeds, colors, shapes and sizes – and it was wonderful! There were Muslim girls, black skater kids, Hispanic and Asian families, ladies in wheelchairs, two dudes who looked like Elvis, and dozens of classic North County hoosiers yelling things like “Fu*k yeah, Rambler!” and “I’m from NoCo, bi*ch!” Strangely, there were also at least three grandmas wearing belly shirts.

But all in all, it was a great day. I wish I had been further up in the procession, as many folks started walking out while the parade was still going on. I also wish I could’ve high-fived the young father I heard quizzing his sons on the history and geography of Stonehenge! He was a nice contrast from the person who asked me if Stonehenge was in northern California or southern California. (For the record, it’s in England.)

Originally, I had planned to contrast Stonehenge with NoCo’s own ancient landmark, Charbonier Bluff, but my papier mache skills fell a bit short. So in the end, I just created the best parade entry I could and focused on having fun. Fortunately, it worked out just fine… Thanks, Florissant! Can’t wait ‘til next year!

Share this NOCO post...