To mark our wedding anniversary Saturday night my wife and I went to the Cutthroat Café in Bailey. Whenever we pulled up to the restaurant there was a feller tending a big metal cauldron that had a large fire in it. I asked him if he was one of the homeless and his reply was that he was preparing for the Bailey parade of lights. This meant absolutely nothing to us so we went into the restaurant and ordered dinner. We had steaks and they were really good.
Pretty soon several more people began to arrive and order coffee and such. A long hay wagon appeared in front of the café. It had Christmas lights strung all over the wagon.
I asked the restaurant owner what was the event and he said that it was the 8th annual parade of lights in Bailey. I mentioned that I had heard absolutely nothing of the parade and he said that they always had the parade without announcement so that they would not have to have a permit or such. (That made sense.) He said that the trophy for the best float was a can of green beans.
The parade was to start at 7 PM and they were waiting for the horses. He even invited us to ride on a float. I made an excuse that I did not even bring my coat. (It was very cold last night after sundown and the wind in Bailey was blowing about 40 mph.)
Sure enough they brought the two horses to pull one of the floats. The horses were draped with Christmas lights also. The parade was on the side street on the north side of US285 from the old grocery store to the convenience store. In all, one block long. There 3 floats in the parade and a crowd of about 25 people of all ages to watch the parade. As you know, there are no street lights on the streets of Bailey so there is no telling how many thousands of spectators were sitting in the dark on the sides of the mountain watching the parade. Maybe 10,000; maybe none.
Well, that was the 8th Annual Bailey Parade of Lights! A good time was had by all.
had no idea. nice you got to see it. and congrats on your anniversary!
bumper sticker - honk if you will pay my mortgage
"The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." attributed to Margaret Thatcher
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson
