While we were in the history museum on Friday, we had a wonderful conversation with Matt, the President. When we told him we had brought our own version of Tracht (folk costumes) he invited us to join him in the Autumn Leaf Festival Parade. Oh my gosh, we jumped at the opportunity.
Unbeknownst to us, there exists a Festival season and with each event there is a parade. It turns out that cities from all over Washington and nearby states travel to one another's festival and participate in their parades. There were dozens of floats with one all the way from Penticton, British Columbia.Residents and museum members, Tom and Cheryl Phillips, donated the use of their award-winning 1948 International KB12 pickup to use in the parade. Gorgeous.Since we were going to be in the parade, and would miss most of the floats, we arrived early to ogle and to photograph. We were very impressed by the professionalism of it all.What an opportunity to mingle and admire.I even had the opportunity to meet David Severance, the Grand Marshall of the parade. David became the initial board president of UVHS and served as a board member for many more years. David was widely known as Leavenworth’s Father Christmas for nearly twenty-five years until he ‘retired’ two years ago.Riding in the back of the truck was President Matt Cade along with Don Morse, the founding Chairman of the steering committee that started the Museum.We were the sweeps strolling behind the real stars and doing our best to represent! What a blast.By the way, the Penticton, British Columbia float took top honors in the "Best from Outside the Country" category with their float celebrating 75 years of their Peach Fest. Wow.After lunch we returned to the heart of town, the Gazebo, for the rest of the festivities. I even got to meet this year’s Royal Lady, Sharon Waters. Sharon is a board member who represented the City of Leavenworth and the Autumn Leaf Festival at festivals across the Northwest. In addition, she currently serves as a council member for the City of Leavenworth. Royalty indeed!There is something hauntingly beautiful about the music from an Alphorn.Steve and I even danced when they played Edelweiss (from The Sound of Music).Our last event of our visit to Leavenworth was to listen to the music of Musikkapelle Leavenworth, the Bavarian Village town's band. The band performs at all major Leavenworth festivals and activities in addition to out-of-town appearances. It is typical of town bands of Bavaria.The repertoire consists of over one hundred arrangements from Germany and marches, waltzes and polkas typical of Bavaria. And like true German village bands, members come from a wide area. So talented and so fun.Our first foray into the Bavarian wonderment, that is Leavenworth, was a huge success. The people, events, food, scenery, and vibe have now become, to quote another Sound of Music lyric, A Few of My Favorite Things!
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1 comments:
I was wondering how you got invited to join the parade... the parade was BYOT (bring your own Tracht). You know how to have a good time! :)
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