The parade must go on; there's no other choice

By JOHN VAN DOORN - Staff writer | Wednesday, August 6, 2008 12:25 AM PDT ∞

One of the truly endearing traits among Americans in our nation, which includes the glorious Escondido, is that it loves a parade.

America loves marchers and bands, floats and camels, fops and dandies, clowns and cops. It loves the hilarious and the earnest, the vets and the warriors, scouts and flags, balloons and jewels; it loves a tiara.

It loves cowboys and indians, bare-legged girls and bare-headed boys; it loves blondes, brunettes, the redheaded and the gray thatched. It loves old and wonders at young. It loves gaudy. It loves guns.

So, in the interest of love, we beg you, Escondido: Don't let the Christmas Parade, annually arranged by the Jaycees of the same town, die. In this usage, "Escondido" is a catchall that includes any persons of influence in parade matters.

Thousands, perhaps hundreds, of Escondido Americans will suffer if you do, not to mention the outsiders who rush over 78, up and down the 5 and 15 and through surface streets too numerous to recount, just to be on hand for the parade.

At the moment, our Gary Warth reports, costs are very serious. The Jaycees, with perhaps just a touch of the old let's-run-this-up-the-flagpole strategy in mind, say they'll have to cancel the parade because they can't afford the new police fees.

The police are not the black hats; a bad economy is a bad economy, and they have to be paid for their work. Still, the cops say, they will talk with the Jaycees ---- which stands, or used to stand, for "Junior Chamber of Commerce" ---- and maybe something can be worked out.

In the name of all that is holy, we hope so. Not that we attach much religious fervor, or even acknowledgment, to the Christmas Parade, in Escondido or anywhere else.

Christmas parades are seldom about religion; they are about Santa Claus, Macy's, gifts and giving, and they are splashy and wonderful in every respect.

But they are commercial, as we all accept, perhaps with a rue in our hearts. Strong evidence: members of a chamber of commerce, junior division, are in charge.

There is nothing wrong with the arrangement. It is just the way of things in 2008.

Do you hang on to the notion that Easter Parades are centered in religion? Well, good for you, but they are not.

They used to be, but now they are runways for the wearing of splendid hats and other finery, and walking slowly along Fifth Avenue, or its equivalent, so that have-nots can check out styles.

Blame Irving Berlin, not the loss of faith. In 1948, his great musical, "Easter Parade," hit movie houses. Sample his first few lines and tell me if we can ever go back: "In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you'll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade: I'll be all in clover, and when they look you over, I'll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade..." Da de de da da.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in most cities in some of the best-known Western nations. But the sainted St. Patrick is mentioned not half so much as Guinness ale and a pint of your best. And the parades, if a bit tipsy, are simply grand.

Escondido's Grape Day Parade and Festival, while terrific (and costly), is another proof that things are not what they used to be.

It began as a celebration of Escondido's prominence, in days of old, as a grape-producing center.

Now it's more generic, a parade, a swell time for real kids and grownup kids, and here and there, grapes..

The Christmas Parade in Escondido simply must go on. It has become too prominent a golden thread in Escondido's historic tapestry to now permit its lustre to dim and fade.

Contact columnist John Van Doorn at (760)739-6647 or jvandoorn@nctimes.com.