hot air and helium

Attendance was light at today's Dogwood Arts Festival Parade, probably due to threatening weather. Except for a little bit of drizzle, the rain held off until after the parade. After seeing Mayor Haslam and his wife, we walked down Gay Street toward the cameras from WVLT's secondary channel, myVLT2.



The crowd's enthusiasm grew when the National Champion Lady Vols rode past. My enthusiasm grew when the Tennessee Traveler SUV rode past. Gordon Boyd was at the wheel with Chef Walter riding shotgun. My camera was pointed at Stacy McCloud.



The backs of Alan Williams and Kelli Parker can be seen across the street behind the Knoxville Zoo float. Seeing local TV news people and giant balloons made the trip downtown worth my while.



I photographed the Garfield and Friends balloon at the intersection of Gay and Union. (Knoxville also has an intersection of Church and State.) The parade ended with a green serpent balloon. I'm pretty sure the PA announcer called it Cecil, as in "Beany & Cecil."



Three years ago, I thought being in the Dogwood Parade would be good publicity for Einstein Simplified's tenth anniversary. We paid the entry fee and got permission from the city to ride in their REO truck. We had signs made for the truck and rented two bullhorns so we could yell at the spectators, which turned out to be a lot of fun. My hopes of being on TV were dashed when they had us roll past the cameras during a commercial break.