The Great Circus Parade – Milwaukee, WI

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Great Circus Parade, a two-hour-long tribute to days long ago when circuses
would parade through town to drum up anticipation of the show under the Big Top,
was held in downtown Milwaukee this year. WMHC's parade unit was proud to bear
the Red, White and Blue as the first horse unit of the Parade. We followed Governor
Doyle's handsome carriage in the Patriotic Section and our Morgans did us proud.
Here's the story of our day in the Big City. Hope you enjoy it!

We arrived at Veteran's Park to find rows upon rows of horse trailers. It was Horse
Central! The needs or our Morgans came first: Mary Ellen Gray and Judy Tate helped
make sure the horses were watered while Toronado and Illusion enjoyed relaxing at
the trailer, munching hay. Jeff Buelow and Joe Holder saw to some tire repairs.

Next we readied ourselves for the parade. After collecting costumes from the
Costume Department, we needed to make sure everything fit, festoon horses with
their trappings, slip on our gloves and attend to those minor, last-minute tweaks.
Good thing our Morgans were so calm about the flags! The breeze off Lake
Michigan really made Old Glory fly. Now, we're off to find the staging area...

Arriving at the staging area, Mary Ellen Gray on Defender and Brenda Kasun on
Beauty noticed a lot of hubbub! Golf carts, bands, hitched teams – Lions, Tigers and GIRAFFES, oh my! Illlusion and Defender were on the alert. Judy Tate and Griffie in the background didn't seem at all concerned about that giraffe. Griffie was probably watching Brenda and Beauty pose for a glamour shot. Our outriders, Dr. Darcy Overturf, DMV on Ebony and Jeff Buelow on his QH, Jules, seemed pretty relaxed. Jerry Coffey's Toronado, our lead horse, took time to enjoy the yummy park grass. Barb Knopf on Alexander, Darcy on Ebony, Leila Erdmann on Tamara and Coleen Finnegan on Flashdance prepared to get into formation.
People! Looks like it's time to get going!

Follow that banner! We arranged ourselves behind the Patriotic Section standard bearer. With flags flying high to the beat of the Sun Prairie High School marching band, we hit the street. Outrider Jeff flanked us in case of any emergency.
Leading man Jerry Coffey thanked his buddy Toronado for a job well done.

The End. Til next time, that is!