Okotoks Summer Parade

The morning of Saturday June 21st brought many of the locals of Okotoks out onto the streets to watch the summer parade. Many of the local businesses and service groups were represented. Our position for these photos is at the end of and looking down Elizabeth Street, the "historic" (in North American terms) main street of Okotoks. We'll blog more about Elizabeth Street at a later point as it is a very sweet street and quite unusual for North America in being quite individual and non strip-mall oriented. But for now, here's a few shots of the parade...

Here's a view down tree lined Elizabeth Street with the crowds awaiting the start of the parade.ReMax are a real estate brokerage with offices across the world.Scouts groups are alive and well in Canada and clearly keeping themselves very busy if this float is anything to go by...The Calgary Stampede starts in less than two weeks and the Calgary Stampede Showriders were out in force to advertise the event...Western Financial are a major insurance company in these parts so you think they might have been able to afford a bigger float! Seriously though, how cute are these fellows?...The Women Of the Wild West were all out in costume......as were the gents...The local "Stingray" swim club had made an excellent effort with their float...It's always a joy to see some vintage vehicles and the pride that the owners display in their care and maintenance...The Deerfoot Inn & Casino clearly didn't spend too much of their punters' money on a large float but sometimes, small is just perfect, don't you think...Now, if you share the sense of silliness we display in many of our posts, you'll truly believe either that one is telling the other a joke or that they are plotting their escape at the end of the parade...It's good to learn something new every day and we certainly didn't know before today that there is an Arabian Appreciation Society (or some such organisation) operating in Okotoks...It's always good to know that your tax dollars are being put to good use and here they definitely were. The Big Horned Sheep represents Sheep River that flows through the town and the Ice Age themed Okotoks Town Council float is representative of an anti global warming message. They are really keen on sustainable living around here...It's always good to be neighbourly and Okotoks didn't miss out on inviting along its adjacent rural authority, the Municipal District of the Foothills...Community Savings are our friendly local bank, the subject of one of our very first posts on this blog...The Calgary Real Estate Board brought along one of the best floats of the day...And the entire event went off smoothly under the watchful eye of the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment...This was our first Okotoks Summer Parade and very impressed we were too.
J&E