Over the Fourth of July weekend my family and I made the trek up to Tower, Minnesota (population 502 at last census count). Each year the residents of Tower hold a parade with kids dressed up in their patriotic finest, local emergency responders and high school marching bands. The morning of the parade, hours before it actually starts, people bring chairs out and line them up and down Main Street to mark their spots. You can leave them there at 7:30 in the morning and at 11:00 they will still be there – you have to love a small town.

Here are a few snapshots from the parade. I love the first one, taken before the parade started. You can see a few parade-goers have already taken their seats, but some are still unoccupied, waiting. I liked the hand-made signs and the weathered building.

Kids diving for candy thrown by aspiring politicians and small pageant royalty.

The color guard. I felt for these girls – don’t let the sleeveless arms deceive you, their outfits were heavy velvet and it was HOT that day. I intentionally chose a slow shutter speed, even though I was hand-holding my camera, because I wanted to show the movement of the flags. There’s some eeriness to the limbs looking almost detached from several of the girls.