A fall-ish day at the Mount Pulaski Fall Festival Parade

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[September 14, 2015]  MOUNT PULASKI - Saturday afternoon heavy gray clouds blocked the sun from view for much of the time. The wind was brisk, and the temperatures were low. It felt like fall.

In Mount Pulaski, the fall-ish feel in the air seemed to put people in the mood to pull on their sweatshirts and gather together for the annual Fall Festival Parade.

According to one Mount Pulaskian this was the year when the community had to overcome some issues to pull off a successful festival. As a life-timer, she was very proud to share that they had done just that. First a boil order that began on Thursday and lasted into the early morning hours of Saturday was difficult for area eateries as well as residents, but everyone coped.

An emergency caused the carnival to cancel at the last minute, which was a serious problem, but once again, Mount Pulaski rallied, bringing in inflatable games and other neat things to make up the difference.

As the one o'clock hour approached, friends and families gathered on the north side of the Mount Pulaski Courthouse lining the streets with chairs and taking seats on the raised sidewalks to see the annual parade. Food vendors were busy selling the warm products such as the walking tacos, fresh-made donuts, and of course, corndogs.

The local girl scouts were selling fabulous gift baskets in the hopes of raising enough money for the group to make a trip to Savannah, Georgia. The trip is so that they may visit the home of the original Girl Scout founder, Julia Gordon Low.


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Children were gathering on the edge of the street, some wearing their coats and boots, others wearing blankets like Superman capes, but all well prepared with their bags in hand for candy-snatching when the parade would come.

When the parade arrived, those children were blessed in abundance as every float and other entry pelted the streets with sweet treats.

The parade featured some really great entries this year. The American Legion and the VFW were the early entries in the parade. After the playing of the National Anthem, the parade officially began. For those who love a parade, of course it ended to soon, but there were dozens of cars, trucks, fire trucks, floats, tractors, and of course, the Mount Pulaski High School Band.

When the parade descended the hill, folks on the downtown Square began splitting up into groups, returning to food booths, checking out the inflatables, and moving on to the Mount Pulaski Courthouse for the annual quilt show.

[Nila Smith]

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