{"id":36868,"date":"2017-07-06T23:58:07","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T03:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=36868"},"modified":"2017-07-06T23:59:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T03:59:15","slug":"independence-day-goal-achieved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/independence-day-goal-achieved\/","title":{"rendered":"Independence Day Goal Achieved"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the 4th of July, I packed up my Independence Day outfit<\/a>, got out of town, and ate my first corn dog.<\/p>\n

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Corn dog!<\/p><\/div>\n

This came about because my gorgeous sister, Terri Berry<\/a>, and her family just moved to Indiana. When I realized they would be there for the holiday, my immediate thought was, “I bet that’s a good place to have a corn dog at a parade.” I was right!\u00a0 Not only were there corn dogs, but the local parade was like one of Stefon’s clubs<\/a>: It had everything. There were World War II vets, vintage cars, fire engines, marching bands, a beauty queen, a (Democratic) state senator, balloons on sticks …<\/p>\n

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\n… a bunch of Rotary Club members riding a giant bike …<\/p>\n

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… babies being kissed …<\/p>\n

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… and, of course, lion dancers.<\/p>\n

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Yeah, you might normally associate lion dancers with Chinese New Year, but this was a wonderfully multi-cultural celebration of America, and the local Chinese arts and social clubs were well-represented. Here’s another one of Chinese dance groups on video, and, as a bonus, you can hear the two announcers who bantered throughout the parade. (These dancers hadn’t gotten into position yet, so the announcers were still discussing the Spider-Man guy who was right in front of them.)<\/p>\n