Rose Anne and I [and John and Betsy] watched the local parade from a seat on the curb of the main street (with the sun to our back). It took about two hours to pass.

Lots of horses, stacks of local officials and businessmen, driving their old cars or their sporty cars (covered with signs, flags, and slogans), a few bands, very few drum majorettes, 3 color guards, lots of pickups towing flatbed trailers with some groups like McDonalds, somebodys' furniture store, somebody elses' restaurant, groups like Boy Scouts, groups like the Optimists Club, groups like the Grove-Jackson Streets club doing a marching drill team with lawn chairs, lots of kids on bicycles of all kinds, even an old Uncle Sam in a motorized wheelchair. We even had a Perot for President group. It was a real picturesque small town parade.

Afterwards we went to the after parade city-sponsored carnival, which was set up on the basketball courts of the local school. Also typical of a small town carnival. It included games like "make a basket, football toss, ring toss, skee ball, coin pitch, golf shoot, cake walk (each costing one ticket = $.25). Prizes paid in tickets and with a special trailer where you could exchange your extra tickets for inexpensive prizes. There was Phillipian food, nachos, cotton candy, hot dogs, soda pop.

Off to one side was a group of local musicians playing currently popular music including rap.

Displays of an jet compressor from the Naval air station, and a display from the local power company.

This is the "exciting holiday event" in Alameda.

After looking at the games, (they were all set for a single person to try to do something, except the cake walk which was for a group of individuals competing at the same time). Don't any carnivals have something that let two people cooperate to achieve a goal? Can't we have games that two persons can do, playing together, to win a prize?

Oh yes, a group of us went to the Berkeley marina to watch fireworks - a group of between 50 thousand to 100 thousand people were there to watch. We did it "all" on the Fourth.