Naperville Labor Day Parade

What a great day for a parade in Naperville. I watched it from a house on S Main where my friend Kristin Jungles and her husband Kevin host a party every year attended by 200 or so friends and neighbors. (btw, Norm makes great omelets in the back). Even Mayor Pradel stopped by in his Park District uniform before the start. There was even a cotton candy machine cranking out pure, fluffy, sugar buzz for all who wanted.

Scare whipping up cotton candy

Along with the bagpipes, floats, marching bands, community groups, dancers, a few union groups (IBEW and Plumbers and Pipe-fitters) and the politicians running for office, there was a group marching that didn’t quite sit right with me. For lack of a better term, I will call it a “political protest group”.  (They shall remain nameless). They were quite vocal pushing their cause and graphic with their signs – and it bothered me.

Why did it bother me? I’m not sure, but maybe its because I viewed the parade as a celebration of Labor Day and what Labor has done for this country. Also as an event where any group, approved by the organizers, may enter and participate. I guess I just never expected an aggressive protest group. Maybe I’m getting old and stodgy, but hey, parades are for fun and candy and flying discs and balloons for the kids, and for parents and kids to march together etc. Let’s find another venue for protesting.

Supplemental candy distribution.