Festival goers lined the streets of downtown from West Central to the courthouse tonight to see the Mizpah Shrine Parade. There is something indescribably strange about seeing hundreds of old men march, drive, and roller blade around downtown Fort Wayne in tasseled fez, an antiquated hat from Ottoman times last seen on Aladdin's pet monkey Abu. Eccentricities aside, the Shriners have been some of the friendliest people I've met so far at the festival, and their organization serves a really good cause. I was glad to see such a strong show of American flags in the 300-400 man parade, particularly the eight-horse brigade featuring American flags from each era of its history.
I thought the crowd's reception to the parade was lukewarm. Talking with some I found that many missed seeing the parade in the dark when it was known as the "Parade of Lights," which ended when Indiana switched to daylight savings time. Shriner secretary Ron Harruff told me the change was to keep the parade early enough for the kids, which is understandable. It's a shame. Daylight savings time is nice, but does anyone think 10:00pm is too late to wait for it to get dark?
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