What a Parade in Downtown Tonica Looks Like

Tonica "Cruise Fest" is what they call it around these parts. Basically it consists of the parade in the afternoon, also the local bar cooks up some grub that you can buy and eat on their picnic tables, oh and there's an elephant ear stand. After all of that you can jump in one of two rented bounce houses or pay to dunk some Tonica village official in the dunk tank. But after a couple hours, you've pretty much seen it or done it all.

I guess around supper time the Fire Station puts on a pork chop dinner, and the beer garden opens up at the bar. That's when the real party gets started. Ha ha. They also have a bunch of people who own a bunch of old cars cruise Main Street (for what essentially takes less than a minute). We didn't do that part.

We just went for the free candy and pure fascination of it all.


As you can see, the girls didn't quite know what to expect.


Here comes the the Tonica Fire Truck...later we heard that it sprayed some kid so hard they got knocked over and the Tonica Ambulance had to give them a free ride to the hospital.


This is the succession of Tonica Village emergency services. I think they threw out a bunch of candy.


John Deere tractors following the EMT...I don't think they had any candy. They just waved and smiled.


They were in full force that day. Notice our freshly painted water tower in the distance.


Some of the locals...waiting for candy.


Luckily some teenage girls dressed up in 50's costumes saved the day and not only had candy, but balloons too!!


They were part of the one and only float in the parade...put on by the Tonica United Methodist Church. The first float was also the finale of the parade.

So there you have it, what a parade in downtown Tonica looks like. Nothing fancy, but made us feel more a part of this kooky little town. I know someday we'll look back at this time of our lives and have a good laugh.

(BTW, we definitely missed the Yawney's and the Chelsea parade after watching this...I think theirs is right around this time too. Love you guys!!)