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.
In minutes, a police car was leading the band
and homecoming court candidates and the newly-crowned king and queen
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?

Humor at the expense of the Mayo Spartans. The Falcons beat the Spartans 23 – 21 in the homecoming football game.
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
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