Hello people!
I’m Brody! As my first blog post on this website, I will be sharing my fun experience at the homecoming parade for Iowa!
My friend and I visited the homecoming parade and set up shop in front of Macbride Hall. She saved us a spot by the railing, so we could get a good view of the whole thing, and a quick exit for me. She lives much closer, living in Daum’s residence hall. I’m much further in Petersen Hall. I had to take the bus to get to the parade due to my crutches. I recently sprained my ankle, which has left me without the ability to walk normally. There’s only so much limping you can do before you lose your mind.
From there, she and I looked for candy that we could eat, and my crutches did quite well for getting it. Cripple perks? Possibly. Although the amount of Peanut M&M’s we got was criminal, neither of us can eat any of it. We started handing out anything we couldn’t eat to the kids around us, and I used my crutches to get anything that the kids couldn’t get over the railings. Both of us found the parade very fun! Although seeing all the floats made us hungry. Especially the Panchero’s float. And honestly, as I write this, I could go for a good steak burrito.
Many of the floats we saw were very fun! One of them, we saw girls with little tiaras, and they totally rocked them. There was a float with a giant slot machine, and I know a few people who would love to spin that thing. One of my favorite floats that we saw was the one that included Marty McFly from Back To The Future. Quite a surprise to see that in a parade that is completely unrelated to it, but it is quite a funny thing to see.
One of the floats was throwing out little hats with pandas on them, and a kid next to me really wanted one. I used my crutches to get the guy’s attention, and he threw it our way, and I handed the hat to the little boy. He instantly put it on and wore it for the rest of the time. I wish I had gotten a picture of the smile on his face. It was priceless.
The floats were quite eccentric. There was a float that had Santa on it? I looked to my friend Anna and said, “It’s not even October yet. Why’s he already here?” and the boy next to me kept trying to say hi to Santa. It was pretty funny. We got a lot of candy from me yelling for it, and Anna jumping up and down. We even got a bag from a lady in the parade, which gave us more of a vessel to gather it. I even got some pom poms so I can bring out my inner cheerleader. All I need now is one of those dresses they wear, and a ponytail. I’ll also need a lot more flexibility.
Next thing I saw was a parade float about tap dancing, and I almost expected to see one of my new friends here, Keely! Sadly, she wasn’t on the float, and they didn’t give us any candy. So no props to this float. If they gave us candy or maybe some tap dancing lessons, then maybe I’d be a little happier. Do better, Iowa City tap dancing!
I may possibly join the tap dancing. It looks quite fun from the float. Although I’m not exactly sure how much dancing I can do with my leg in a splint.
Anna and I left the parade early so we could get some food, and so that I wouldn’t get run over by the extremely large crowd leaving the parade. So we missed the large marching band. I heard it was really good, though. We went to Burge to get some food, but it seems they closed early due to the parade. We got some food at the market there, and I also got a smoothie. Our other friend Gillian came to get some stuff too.
Overall, the homecoming parade was a very fun experience. I got some candy, spent time with my best friend, and saw a lot of cool stuff. 8/10 would recommend going again. The only bad thing about it was the fact that it was a pain to get there with this dang leg. Well, that’s all for now!
