Dear editor:
I haven't been to a Canada Day parade for a couple of years as the last one I went to was pretty bad. I decided to give it another try this year.
The 2019 parade started out with a bang. The Vancouver Police motorcycle drill team was so awesome and exciting to watch.
Shortly after, my favorite, the bagpipes. The parade went downhill from there. Could you not find any clowns at all that could dress up and hand out balloons to the kids? I guess all the clowns were sitting in cars handing out pamphlets in the hopes someone will vote for them in the next election. Politicians should stay out of parades. The kids don't know who they are and the adults don't care who they are.
What happened to kids riding decorated bikes, silly dressed up clowns, decorated vehicles and trucks? Too much work? I can't believe that there was a garbage truck in the parade, not to mention hundreds of people just walking. And the dogs that were walking in the parade were clearly exhausted.
I was impressed with the group of Persian dancers. There was a huge showing and it made me smile to see all of the beautifully colourful clothes that they were wearing. For almost 40 minutes there was nothing else to look at except for people walking and cars driving with their signs. The dance groups should have at least stopped at each block and showed us a bit of their skills instead of just walking and hold a sign for their institution.
I'm assuming that someone just had to stuff the parade full of something, doesn't matter what it was, as long as it was something. I'm sure tons of people will say, ‘Well, then, why don't you organize the parade next year?’ I'm just saying, I know it's a huge undertaking, but really think about why everybody is out there. It's for the kids and that parade was pretty close to pathetic when it comes to exciting and making kids smile and/or laugh.
Coleen Long
North Vancouver
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