Small Town, Memorial Day
I was born in a small town.
Probably die in a small town.
So sang John Cougar Mellencamp, documenting, in 1985, his growing up in Seymour and Bloomington Indiana. (I always found it fascinating that spandex-wearing, big haired Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth also came from Bloomington…)
I, too, was born in a small town in Northeast Pennsylvania. I’ve lived in the big cities of Philadelphia and San Francisco. I often do business in New York City. I’ve been to Paris, Mumbai, Shanghai, Beijing, and Moscow to name a few.
Big cities, yeah, I know ’em.
But small towns, that’s where I feel me. And we feel us.
Last Monday, me and my family took part in the ultimate small town expression: The parade.
You can keep your big Thanksgiving Day parades. I like the ones where the local high school marching band bangs the drum and toots off key in front of the fuzzy hatted Knights of Columbus (when they went by, my youngest said “Hey, Pirates!”) while the local Future Farmers of America pull a float with their goats on it.
This parade was in honor of Memorial Day. Had to shoot that experience.
From Boy Scouts to bagpipers, from marching bands to horse and riders, from the mayor riding in an old car to the local fire department throwing candy and Uncle Sam in a classic Mustang, the Allentown, NJ, (pop 1,800) Memorial Day Parade had all that what’s right in small-town America.
Do we hate the taxes and the high gas prices and the grocery bills and the beach tags..well, yes we do.
But on Memorial Day, we remember and honor those that gave their some, and gave their all, for this country.
It was a sweet day to be part of small-town America. Click the Boy Scout below to see a short slideshow of the parade.
Hope you enjoy a little slice of my small town…
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2014
JerseyStyle Photography 
There’s a simplicity to small towns that can’t be duplicated. People who migrate to cities for a good future long for small town experience there which they never get. Nice post, and great pics!
Very well put, Mahesh. Thanks for the nice words on the photos.
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