On Wednesday afternoon, Palm Canyon Drive was closed...
...for Palm Springs High School's Homecoming Parade.
For an auto-centric Southern California town, Palm Springs has an admirable tendency to shut down its main street to traffic for any number of occasions...
... including a weekly farmer's market cum street fair every Thursday evening.
The only person who seems to be able to get a street closure to happen in San Francisco, on the other hand, is Larry Ellison, the gangster who owns Oracle.
Since we didn't have the foresight to bring lawn chairs for parade watching...
...we joined a group of tourists from a small town in Washington at a fancy tapas joint called Azul that had a perfect viewing spot along with margarita specials.
The Washington tourists were quite naughty as they yelled out phrases like "Good job, Justin" to the local politicos...
...or "You go, drill team!"...
...which caused the parade participants to look over at us, with the sun streaming in their eyes...
...wondering which of their friends or constituents might be cheering them on.
Though Palm Springs is a resort destination for an eclectic range of folk from retired Chicago mobsters to ancient Los Angeles show biz folk to middle-aged gays from across the country...
...it's also a genuine small city of 40,000 people...
...with an obviously beloved high school sprawled in the middle of town.
The Homecoming Princesses were certainly a multicultural group...
...and it was heartening to see that anorexia wasn't being encouraged in order to become a Princess.
With all the tiaras flashing in the sun, I thought of Beth Spotswood who recently wrote about her worship of same on her brilliant blog (click here for the link).
The Homecoming Theme this year was "Fairytales"...
...and I wonder which high school thespians came up with that one.
Still, it allowed for lots of tiaras and fairy wings, which is always a good thing.
The best performers were the sensitive characters from the high school choir...
...and the girls from the Dance Club who were doing outrageous choreographed routines all the way down Palm Canyon.
The 30-minute parade couldn't have been more charming, and the absence of automobiiles was genuinely delightful.
5 comments:
5 matching silver flugelhorns and an equal number of euphoniums?! The rest of the state should look to Palm Springs when funding art programs.
Great pictures, Mike- you've got a real genius for these little photo essays.
Flugelhorns and euphoniums? I don't know what I'm capturing half the time and it is so fabulous to have somebody who does. Thanks for the comment, Trevor. This particular photo essay took some thought because I didn't want it to be condescending but did want to capture the oddness and charm of the moment.
You're too good to me...
I love a parade!
I am going to Palm Springs for a high school reunion this week and when I googled the homecoming parade what came up but SFMike's blog, not that it is a small world. And we will be sipping margarita as some of my alumni friends ride by in the parade. Thanks for making me smile as always Mike.
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