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The Fourth of July Parade 1998 Corvallis

The Fourth of July Parade is not like a big city parade. Typically there are about as many people in the parade as are spectators. There is generally a firetruck. And for the past few years, we have had the only Kinetic Sculpture.

	This year was different. One thing that didn't change was that most of the participants were children. And I hope that never changes.
	But one change was that this year instead of one firetruck, we got five! I assume that was mostly because the Corvallis Fire Department was celebrating the opening of their new central Fire Station.
	Still, I think the focus remained on the children. And painted faces were very much in style.
	And here we have TimeRex in the parade. Laura Allen and I are piloting. That's Margeaux in the foreground wearing a time travel helmet. TimeRex helmets are always in style. And riding beside TimeRex is Stuart Allen wearing a Beetlemania helmet.
	Skates were often the means of transportation for children. There were several girls with drums. Inside the drums they carried candy, that they handed out to other children along the parade route. Please excuse the time travel equipment in the foreground. I took this picture from within TimeRex.
	You can never have too many flags on your wagon.
	After the parade, Margeaux and Meredith tried out TimeRex for size. Margeaux demonstrated to me how she could pedal Rex. But as Meredith pointed out, it would be tiring since they could only get their feet onto one pedal at a time, the one that was closer to them.
	Laura and Stuart decided to take TimeRex for a spin around the block. One of TimeRex's strong points is that it is not just a Kinetic Sculpture. It is more fun to drive than that.

According to the Gazette-Times article the following day, the Fourth of July parade was started in 1989 in part by Lori Rentz and consisted of about 20 of her family and friends. The parade this year had about 2000 people in it. That represents just under 50% annual growth sustained for 9 years. I am very glad so many people were able to participate in this delightful event. I only hope it doesn't loose its small town flavor as it grows.