Cda Doesn’T Let It Rain On Its Parade Stormy Clouds Can’T Chase Folks From Place

Hayden Chisum got to see her first Fred Murphy Days parade Saturday - sort of.

She’s only a year old, and spent most of the morning wrapped up in a blanket.

And despite the best efforts of her grandmother - who held Hayden up high to see the last firetruck roll down Sherman Avenue - Hayden slept through it.

But those who were awake got a traditionally festive show Saturday. The weather pardoned the crowd, though storm clouds loomed and raucous winds whipped through the trees.

“Thank God it didn’t rain,” parade organizer Stephen Gregory said.

“Sometimes we squeak through with the parade, then about an hour later it can pour. You can’t battle the weather.”

The crowd, which lined the sidewalks all along the parade route, saw more than 70 entries, with few no-shows other than Mayor Steve Judy.

The Red Hot Mamas were a big hit, decked out in gaudy floral dresses, multicolored bows on their shoes, hats with a potpourri of grocery products and topped with an air-filled pink flamingo.

They interacted with the crowd in typical Red Hot Mama fashion, leering, sticking out tongues, smiling, yelling, waving.

“They love us in parades here,” said Jeanne MacConnell, beaming.

“We really had fun with the crowd. When the Mamas come, they always stand up, cheer and holler.”

Some of the parade participants saw people they knew as they marched down the street and stopped to call out and wave. Others, with eyes squinted and smiles plastered on their faces, seemed to wish they could get on with their Saturday.

If there were a “cutest” award, the Coeur d’Alene Little League squad could easily have won as they sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” in unison.

For the most part, the parade was fairly mild, with participants bound by strict rules against throwing candy or pamphlets, drinking alcohol and even cleaning up their own messes.

Ben Betts brought his own parade to sit on the sidewalk Saturday - his two daughters and four of their friends.

“We liked the Red Hot Mamas - the ladies with the stuff on their heads,” Betts said.

“It was upbeat, very entertaining.”

Antonia Babcock, aka Tulip the Clown, was glad people had a good time.

Her group, the Kootenai Medical Center Smile Squad, won first place in the comedy/novelty division. “Even the older people get a big kick out of it,” Babcock said.

“I didn’t know this many people would come out.”

Some didn’t even go home after it was over, like Tim Morehead of Hayden, who sat with his camcorder cradled in his lap and his 4-year-old daughter on the grass next to him.

“Good,” Aubrey said of the parade.

“Like it,” of what she thought about being in it.

“Because of all the kids,” as to why.

This sidebar appeared with the story: FRED MURPHY DAYS Parade winners

Best overall - Budweiser Clydesdales

Comedy/novelty division - Kootenai Medical Center Smile Squad

Best band/marching unit - Tumwater (Wash.) High School Band

Best float, community division - Post Falls Chamber of Commerce

Best float, commercial division - Budweiser Clydesdales

Best float, noncommercial division - Coeur d’Alene Little League

Best equestrian group - Kootenai County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse.

Best equestrian single - Tiny Trotters

Best mechanized antiques - Interstate Concrete & Asphalt Company