Kenai Fourth of July Parade

It was wonderful to wake up to sunshine this morning. Before driving to Kenai for the parade we first attended services at Christ Lutheran here in Soldotna. We were blessed to have found a church which was built to let all that sunshine in, as you may notice in the picture below.

The pastor was away on vacation but various members of the congregation conducted the service quite ably. John Clonan, council president, gave quite an inspirational message on the meaning of the word "amen".  He told how, despite some trials in his life, he could still respond positively with an amen to God's love and grace. His voice broke once or twice and carried a lot of pain. He certainly had a powerful message and did well in delivering it. We enjoyed visiting with the church members after church over coffee and cookies. Even though sunshine greeted us when we got up, there were ominous clouds overhead when we drove to the parade. The next picture I have here tells the rest of the story. The temperature for the day stayed in the low 50s. That is my brother Wayne seated next to John and his wife Mary Jo is next to him. There was a cool wind blowing.

 The parade was about an hour and half long. It had lots of motorcycles and old cars. There were also the usual politicians and their entourages. Lots of candy was thrown out to the children. Only a couple of floats and bands were in the parade. The little girl in front of me seemed to be enjoying the Dixie River Rat's music. 

There was also a carnival going on in a park nearby with lots of food and games. Cakes were on display which had been decorated to celebrate the town's 50th birthday. They were to be cut after the parade and given out to everyone. However by that time we were anxious to get back into our warm car!