We all know what yesterday was, don't we? The annual Butter & Egg Days Parade stepped off, precisely at noon. This year's parade celebrated the 100th Year Anniversary of the Carnegie Library (now our Historical Museum & Library), located at 4th & B Streets. At the head of the parade were the Grand Marshals (The Petalumans of Yesteryear) and the 2006 Good Egg, Lucy Kortum. Petaluma has been holding parades to celebrate special occasions for years. These processions of people, bands, and floats have been organized to commemorate the Fourth of July and Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) for years. But, hit the pause key, and think about what else we were demonstrating.
If you look in a dictionary, there is a word that may be defined as "a group of people who live in the same area - people with common background or shared interests within society." When I think about a parade, such as yesterday's event, with thousands of citizens coming together walking, riding on floats, and marching in bands, the word community pops up in my mind. For a brief moment in time, we the citizens of greater Petaluma were "a long moving line of people" who participated in an organized event "intended to be publicly displayed." What was displayed? Our "spirit of community." (Italics are from the dictionary.)
A healthy sense of community cannot be bought; it is priceless.* It's an attribute. It's developed by a variety of people over time. Petaluma residents have been doing this from day one. Petaluma's community spirit is second to none!
Here are a few photographs of our parades, past and present. Take a look at yesterday's post for "Then" and scroll down for "now."
* Although we feel that these kinds of events are "priceless," the associations that organize such events like to report statistics to their members. In this case, the 2006 Butter & Egg Days Parade included approximately 3,000 participants. It was organized by a group of 125 volunteers. Fifty business sponsors contributed about $60,000 in cash and another 50 businesses made in-kind donations of goods, services, and raffle prizes that had a value of approximately another $30,000. When volunteer time and services are added in, it is probably safe to say that the total "value" of the parade exceeded $100,000. Additional $$$ spent at local businesses and the 75 booths is another story. The parade's event coordinator Toni Bodenhamer estimates that there were 22,000 spectators. All told, about 25,125 people were involved, in some way. That statistic represents about 45% of the city's popoulartion of 55,000 people. Talk about community support and turn out for a historical celebration! Many thanks to the Petaluma Downtown Association for pulling it all together.
If you were riding in the parade, and looked at the faces of the young and old alike, money couldn't come close to representing the "value" of the community spirit generated, nor the unspoken sense of community that thousands of parade watchers left with at the end. (My heart is still pounding away, just thinking about it.)
We have stated often in our blogs that "the greatest resource of any community is the collective wisdom, intellect, and creativity of its citizens." The 2006 Butter & Egg Days Parade certainly demonstrated that quote. Stay tuned for more blogs that deal with Our Community.
