Page 7 - Robeson Living Fall 2017

underway.

Traditionally parades, especially Farmers Festival ones,
What was my most favorite Farmer’s Day have lots of queens like Greater Little Miss Teen True Blue
Parade? I’m glad you asked. It’s an easy answer. 1988. Walnut Promenade Festival, or Super Junior Miss Pimento
Now, we’ve had a bunch of them since they were begun and Swiss Cheese Gala Queen in addition to Miss N. C.
by the Civitans in 1950, then a couple in the mid 70’s, and There’s also the required number of Shriner units or, more
a restart in 1987 so I guess there’s a great big choice list. aptly put, grown men dressed up in comical costumes and
But my choice is 1988 because of two reasons: a big ole funny hats behaving like little boys and having a whale
mule and a President. That’s right. A big ole, 4 legged, tail of a time.We, in Fairmont even throw in a crowd of trac-
a-swishing, landplowing, red mule and a President as in tors, a bunch of floats carrying Little League teams, 800
“of the U.S.A.” type. Now you’re probably thinking I’m kids who’ve read 10,000 books since school started, a few
just being silly right about now but as you read further I politicians appealing for votes in an election year, and spir-
might convince you I’m really very serious. So travel back ited music from high school bands. Usually it totals right
a few years, 29 to be exact, and join me downtown for the around 100 units, lasts a little over an hour and causes
annual Fairmont Farmers Festival parade on the last Satur- those standing up to get a tingling feeling in the lower legs.
day in September 1988. But 1988 was different. We had a tobacco drag. We had the
entire Blue Family. We had Mrs. Tessie. She had a switch.
Actually, since I couldn’t possibly have been in two differ- We had Red the mule. And we had President Reagan.
ent places at the same time, you would have had to join me
at the parades start better known in parade lingo as ground As I was scanning the parade roster early that morning,
zero to borrow a military term. It’s at this point where cha- between giggles, (Just hang on, I’m coming back to that
os and order meet. Where hair is pulled out, nerves unrav- later) I noticed “THE BLUE FAMILY” on the sheet. I
el, and Christian values are put to the test. And it is where asked a parade assistant familiar with this group what they
I was standing, as parade director, with a grin on my face. were going to do and was told, “recreate a farm scene in
I knew a secret that no one else knew and my funny bone motion”. They did not tell me that the Blue Family includ-
was twanging loudly against my ribs. But we’ll come back ing James, Tessie, and their children and grands along with
to our anatomy lesson a little later. First let’s get the parade Red the mule were going to be in the parade 3 times. They

Robeson Living ~ Fall 2017 Page 7