THEY THREW A PARADE for me in Faribault.
Not really. But my friend Beth Ann and I decided that, yes, the Faribault High School homecoming parade Friday afternoon was also my birthday parade.
We had just finished to-die-for individual pizzas—mine pear paired with award-winning blue cheese made in Faribault and Beth Ann’s a Caprese with fresh basil pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes—at The Cheese Cave and toured the Paradise Center for the Arts when we stepped outside to find a throng of young people.
I deduced that it must be homecoming.
Every parade needs a band.
In minutes, a police car was leading the band
Faribault High School homecoming queen, Nyamal Tut, and king, Danny Ehlers.
Even the convertible was in the school color.
and homecoming court candidates and the newly-crowned king and queen
Senior football players.
and lots of raucous FHS students along Central Avenue.
My favorite float featured the theme of preferring Miracle Whip over Mayo, as in the Faribault Falcon’s opponent, Rochester Mayo High School.
We were in on this parade whether we wanted to be or not and we wanted to be. How can you resist the youthful excitement of teens on an autumn day as perfect as they come in Minnesota?
Appreciated this message.
Lots of green hair…
Humor at the expense of the Mayo Spartans. The Falcons beat the Spartans 23 – 21 in the homecoming football game.
Sophomore football players.
Cheers and noise and drum beats and hair colored green and humor and throbbing energy and candy tossed onto pavement. A homecoming parade. For a moment or ten, I wished I was sixteen again.
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
So happy I could be there to celebrate your special day and parade with you!
I am, too, Beth Ann. You helped make my birthday a memorable one. You are the BEST!!!
Happy Birthday Audrey! How nice to have a parade on your special day 🙂 Pear on pizza is delicious. I first experienced pear on pizza @ Lovetree Farmstead in WI. Another destination for you – http://tinyurl.com/qchgl3r
Thanks, Dan. OK, I seriously need to start a list of places you are recommending.
Oh Audrey! In the midst of our moving your birthday slipped by uncelebrated! I’m so sorry! Once I unpack the right boxes and have a moment to spare, I will send what I had planned to give you. It may take a few weeks for me to get to those boxes, as I finally got the kitchen unpacked and in place and we’ve been here a week now! It’s just that I have to do so much cleaning BEFORE I can unpack! And I’ve had to paint two rooms BEFORE we could move the big furniture in. That’s because the living room was a dark burgundy red and the school room a dark navy blue! Three coats of primer and two coats of paint later, we can move the furniture in, but at the expense of several days of painting first!
Never-the-less, “Happy belated birthday”, may God bless you with good health, good friends, good times, and a sense of peace throughout the year. You are loved and appreciated.
Oh, dear sister-in-law, I knew you were in the middle of moving. Sounds like those rooms definitely needed paint.
Thanks for your sweet wishes.
I think I have seen bands at your place before.. i love them.. we never see them out here, not in the boonies, imagine if one were to walk down our lane.. actually that would be terrifying! kind of them to have a parade for your birthday.. happy birthday audrey my friend.. c
Thank you, C. Actually, when Beth Ann (It’s Just Life) and I were lunching on Friday before the parade we did not know about, we were talking about how much fun it would be to visit you. And Beth Ann was gushing about Letters to my Sister.
wonderful, anytime.. she is such a lovely girl..
You would LOVE Beth Ann.
Happy Birthday-sounds like you did a lot of celebrating! Best wishes for a good year ahead
Sue
Thank you, Sue. Every year seems to bring good times and challenges, sometime one more than others in a year. I’m due for a good one, right?
Sounds like you had a fun Birthday! Nothing better than a Homecoming parade. Rick and I both went to Mayo, Rick played football, we are a little bias and rejoice over mayo’s big victory 🙂
I was wondering if you and/or your kids attended Mayo. Now I know.
But, yeah, ummmm, Mayo lost to the Falcons, 23 – 21 in the homecoming game.
Oh, my bad….. Guess I read the article in the paper wrong. Wishful thinking I guess
Semi laughing…
Happy Belated Birthday Audrey — always enjoy reading your posts! That looked like a great homecoming (birthday) parade!
Thank you, Laurie. I appreciate faithful readers like you.
Happy birthday Audrey. We don’t have homecoming kings and queens here and it sure does look like a lovely tradition. What a great parade and it looks like everyone was having a lot of fun. I do love the sound of your pear and blue cheese pizza! xx
Catching the parade was an unexpected surprise.
If you like blue cheese, you would have loved it paired with pears on a pizza.