There are lots of things we do well in LaPorte. Three that come to mind immediately are high school baseball, the prom (I love that it is a spectator sport), and best of all — the Fourth of July.
The Jaycees have been doing the Fourth forever. They’ve got to be the most overlooked and underrated group in town. What that group puts on, from the Beer Barns, to the parade, to the fireworks display, is incredible. This is especially true when you consider their numbers. If some of the big bailed-out businesses could get the productivity per man hour the Jaycees do, we would not be in a recession.
The parade is my favorite part of the holiday celebration. Always has been. People who complain that they are not going because it is “boring” or “always the same” drive me nuts.
There are three key factors in a superb parade viewing spot:
Number 1: A good, close-up view of the parade route.
The key factor in parade watching is finding a good spot. Over the years I’ve been blessed.
My grandmother worked at the courthouse for years In the clerk’s office, then as the township assessor. Courthouse access paid off for my brothers, sister and me for years. On summer days we would walk downtown from home and visit Ma and her co-workers. After a while they would give us some change and send us on our way. That change may have kept Woolworth’s open for a few extra years. Another thing it did was introduce us to the various elected county officials. Was it strange for 9-year-olds to have a real rooting interest in county elections?
Anyway, having a grandmother working at the courthouse, we watched the parade from there. She always managed to get us seats right on the curb. This location positioned us to catch the candy and trinkets that some groups tossed from floats. We could easily yell at siblings or friends who landed spots on a float. Most importantly, we were right there to be scared witless by that Orak sword guy. Bald, shirtless, evil-looking, he would march right up to us and menacingly swish those swords around. I still have nightmares about that guy.
I have noticed the old one was way, way, way bigger than the current one.
Number 2: A good, close-up view of the non-parade people who walk up and down the parade route.
My grandmother’s office was moved out of the courthouse when I was a near teen/early teen. Luckily, about that time my dad and the Town Crier moved to J Street, where LaPorter Federal Credit Union is now. The shop was a converted grocery on Fourth Street, but the office was an old house on J Street. An old house with a porch.
Having a house with a porch to observe the parade, you were out of range for tossed candy and to the Orak guy, but it was a perfect perch to watch the human parade up and down the sidewalks.
The most vivid memories I have of this human parade are tattoos.
Obviously it is usually hot on the Fourth of July, therefore people don’t wear lots of clothing, and as a result expose all sorts of body art.
I know tattoos are all the rage now, but back in the late ’60s and early ’70s there were two kinds of people who had tattoos.
One was the military veterans. These were guys who fought in World War II or Korea. We had seen the war movies, read about the wars in class, and spent a lot of time playing Army. My pals and I knew these military tattoo guys were seriously tough dudes. This included the skinny guy who lived down the street and spent his time flower gardening. That Screaming Eagle tattoo gave him some serious street cred.
The other type of tattooed people back then were the scary motorcycle rider type. We were instructed to avoid these guys.
CHIP JONES is a lifetime LaPortean, the voice of the Slicers on local radio, and a real estate agent, and he’ll be watching the parade. Contact him at chipjonesmtm@comcast.net.
