Downtown Shelby Parades

There's almost nothing more wholesome than a small town, midwestern parade down main street. We had plenty of these in Shelby, Ohio.

Whether it be the Fourth of July parade, the Bicycle Days parade, the Homecoming Parade, Memorial Day Parade, or the Halloween Parade, we always had great parades - at least they were great as seen through the eyes of an innocent child.

The Memorial Day Parade always passed through downtown Shelby and came down Gamble Street near our house on its way to the large cemetery there. People would get set up on the street's edge early and put out their folding lawn chairs to get an up-close-and-personal vantage point as the soldiers and veterans marched by.

This was in the early 1970s and the Vietnam War was still going on. But as seen from the innocent eyes and pure mind of a 6 year old boy it was something really special, not anything political, but real soldiers carrying what seemed to be real rifles, marching in perfect lockstep.

A year or two later I actually was part of the parade with my Cub Scout Troop. One year we marched in our uniform and another year we rode in the back of our Troop leader's pickup truck. We were all so proud to be seen by the whole city... errr.. town of Shelby. And while I don't remember specifically, I'm sure we each had our little American flag to wave alone the route. And since the cemetery was somewhat close to our hour I could walk home afterwards, accompanied by my mother, father, and sister.

But year after year, there were always veterans from the FIRST world war. And then, naturally, every subsequent year there were fewer and fewer until only one remained. He was driven slowly along the parade route with a large sign on the side of his chauffeured Cadillac and sponsored by the local dealership.

The High School, Junior High School (now called "Middle School"), and even elementary school bands marched the long parade distance from end to end, playing military or otherwise patriotic tunes. Later in life I too was part of this Shelby marching band, having played trombone from 6th grade through 10th grade.

The Halloween parades were always a lot of fun. I don't think Shelby has these anymore. They took place after dark and would pass down Main Street as all the Shelby Parades did. The people on the elaborately designed and decorated flatbed trucks or wagons would toss Halloween candy to the kids seated on the curbs along the street.

I even participated in several of the Bicycle Days parades. This was a summer parade and always under the baking hot sun. We would spend hours washing, maybe waxing, and decorating our little Coaster Bikes (as bicycles were called which did not have gears or hand breaks) with streamers, noise makers, and whatever we had, and would ride ever so slowly through downtown Shelby. It's rather difficult to ride a bicycle slowly, don'tchaknow! Sometimes we'd ride around in circles and sometimes we have a slow collision with the bike rider near us. But we were kids and it didn't matter. Surely we were threatened with sunstroke but no one worried about these things back then.

The Homecoming Parade was a real oddity for me - and one of the shortest parades you'd see. Not only would you see the Homecoming King and the Homecoming Queen and their court on the back of a flatbed truck or trailer, but also truckloads of proud football players wearing their football jerseys, cheerleaders, boosters, and also the obligatory "support vehicles" advertising their shop or service, all decorated with Red and Grey colors and Shelby Whippet art.

Small town parades are always so joyful and the participants and spectators are so full of civic pride. As seen from the eyes of a child, there's almost nothing better - except for attending his first Friday night Varsity Football Game under the lights at historic W.W. Skiles Field. Now THAT'S something special - but that's for another blog entry.

Little MailMan Wannabe

In the weekday afternoons after lunch I'd often sit on the sofa back and gaze out the window to the end corner of our block. I'd wait and I'd wait. What was I waiting for?

THE MAILMAN! It doesn't take too much to impress or excite a 6 or 7 year old boy.

So there I was, looking through the tall, thick, double-hung windows just waiting for Mister X. I can't remember his name but I'm certain my mother made sure I addressed him as Mister Johnson or whatever it was and not to bother him in his duties.

As soon as I spied him between the houses, walking towards the corner of South Gamble Street and Earl Avenue, I'd shout to my mother, "I'm going to see the MailMan!" as I'd grab my coat off the hook next to the door and throw open the screen door with a BANG! Downhill I'd run to the corner, hoping to get to the mailbox before Mister Johnson.

When I was fast enough and meet at the mailbox, huffing and puffing, I'd greet Mister Johnson with a big smile. I remember he always wore the same mailman's uniform; black leather shoes, navy blue pants, navy blue jackets with lapels and gold buttons, navy blue billed hat with a kind of insignia in the middle, and always a white shirt and black tie. It must have been easy to do his laundy.

So I'd meet Mister Johnson at the mailbox and give him that big "Oh Please! Oh Please! Oh Please!" smile and he couldn't resist. He'd pull out this long chain from his deep pocket and at the end were was seemed like hundreds of keys. He'd fish out the appropriate key and hand it to me. I'd put it in the mailbox keyhole and turn gently and down would fall the metal door, exposing dozens of envelopes.

This was probably against his Mail Man rules but he let me anyway. He never did, however, let me touch the envelopes he's scoop out and put into his shoulder bag. I just stood and watched him work. When he was done, he'd let me lock the box up again, he'd give it a tug to be sure it was shut, then he'd take the key back.

I don't even remember if he ever knew me by name but I was the only boy who would meet him at that mailbox nearly everyday for those two years. When I didn't go outside because it was raining or snowing or I was tired, I'd watch him walk from house to house delivering envelopes to people's front porch mailboxes. In Shelby, nearly EVERYONE had/has a front porch as did we. I'd always think, "Wow. That must be the best job in the world. You get be outside everyday, talking to interesting people, walking at a relaxed pace, and you get to open all those cool mailboxes."

Again, it doesn't take much to impress a 6 or 7 year old boy in a small town - in 1971 or so. Now, it takes A LOT to impress a boy of the same age.

Kindercamp and my first girlfriend

My first foray into the educational system - if you can call it that - was when I was, what, 4 years old (about 1969 or 1970) when I started going to Kindercamp, as it was called.

Kindercamp comes BEFORE kindergarden and is more of a daycare than actual education. I wonder if my parents paid something for that. It was housed downtown in the basement of the church behind the Shelby Post Office (yes, there's only one Post Office in Shelby) which was just down the backstreet from the Marvin Memorial Library and next door to the ice cream Drive In. They had/have a cool drive-through window, something unusual for those times. The drive in's name escapes me now but these years it has a kind of 1950s theme to it.

Shelby Post Office on North Gamble Street, corner of Whitney Avenue, Shelby Ohio

Mom would drive me every morning to kindercamp. While it was housed in the basement of the church (see building at far right edge of above photo) it was not a religious center of any kind. Seemed pretty normal to me. We had story time where we would grab our piece of carpet and lie down on the floor while listening to the woman reading a book about a dog or cat or both. I don't recall falling asleep during the reading but no doubt it happened.

And they had the best toys there. What's NOT great about spending 4 hours in a place when all these thousands of toys are new to you, you get to paint and paste and make macaroni "portraits", and also hold hands with the cute girls. I suppose some fights among the boys took place over WHO would get to play with the charp-edged metal plow toy but no one ever bothered or tested me.

I clearly remember my first day. I cried and cried, not wanting to go in, scared to death of this new and strange place. But after the first few minutes I was fine. And within a few days - or maybe weeks - I had my first ever girlfriend... errr.. girlfriendS - plural.

My first FIRST girlfriend's name was ANGIE. She was tall for her age too as I recall, and so very cute, black hair, beautiful smile. We never kissed, I don't think, but did look longingly into each others eyes and if you THINK you're boyfriend-girlfriend then heck, YOU ARE! In fact, we were boyfriend-girlfriend several times throughout the first few years of school but at that age its tough to be a one girl boy. hehehe...

Mom would pick me up at around noon and take me home or run errands. Funny, I don't remember HOW she came to get me but imagine she came on foot since we only lived about 8 or 10 blocks away - and since we only had one car and Dad took that to work. Surely we'd often go to Main Street's Ben Franklin store and 5 and Dime store to buy knitting supplies for her and a candy for me.

After our long walk home for my 2 little legs, Mom prepared a delicious lunch for me, with my best memories being of grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell's Soup, my favorite being the chicken noodle soup. But those grilled cheese sandwiches, using Velveeta Cheese (was it reallllly cheese???) were the best.