2009 Shelby Ohio Bicycle Days Photos

Below is a collection of photos from yesterday's (July 11th, 2009) Shelby Ohio Bicycle Days parade. They were taken from the northern side of East Main Street at Wentz Avenue:

Shelby High School Marching Band

The Farm Tractor Brigade

Tiny Twirlettes

Tiny Twirlettes Marching
Llama Trot

Horse Riders and Cleanup Crew Close "Behind"

Candy Scavengers

King Midgets

It was an enjoyable Bicycle Days Parade, partly cloudy, breezy, not too warm. There was a good turn-out too.

Shelby Bicycle Days 2009

Shelby Bicycle Days is here!

For those who don't know, the Shelby Bicycle Days festival was combined with Shelby's 4th of July festival a few years ago, that's why the festival takes place on the 10th of July. Also, the date allows 4th of July travelers to return to Shelby and still enjoy the local festivities.

The 2009 Shelby Bicycle Days schedule is as follows:

Friday, July 10:

• 4-8pm: Log Cabin opens
• 4-10pm: Rides at Central Park
• 4-10pm: High School Avenue Food Concessions
• 4:30-10pm: Central Park Vendor exhibits
• 5-6pm: Band Stand music by the New Washington Band
• 6pm: Band Stand, Kiddie Royalty Crowning
• 6pm: Siegfried Park, Family Feud Softball Tournament
• 7-9pm: band music at Spiritual House
• 7-8:30pm: Skiles Field, Real Guitar Hero competition

Saturday, July 11:

• 7:30am: Central Gym, Whippet 5K Run registration
• 8:15am: High School Avenue, Whippet Fun Run
• 8:30am: High School Avenue, Whippet 5K Run
• 8:30am: Dr. Westbeld's Parking Lot, Cornhole registration & tournament
• 10am: Great Scot Parking Lot, Bike skills competition
• 12-5pm: Central Gym, TC 1st Annual 3-point shoot-out
• 12-11pm: Central Park rides
• 12-11pm: Food concessions open
• 12-8pm: Log Cabin opens
• 1pm: Parade preparation, Wentz Ave. & Grand Blvd.
  
• 2pm: Parade, Main Street, South Gamble, Tucker Avenue
• 2-5pm: Shelby Museum opens
• 3pm: Skiles Field, Real Guitar Hero finals
• 3:30pm: Band Stand, Shelby Help Line Ministries pie auction
• 4-10pm: Skiles Field, Christian music concert
• 7-9pm: High School Ave. & Main Street, Cloverleaf Square Dancers
• 10pm: FIREWORKS at SKILES FIELD!!

It should be a good time at this year's 4th of July and Bicycle Days Festival in Shelby, Ohio USA. Does it get any better than this for good, wholesome, hometown-small town fun? I don't think so.

I expect to be attending tomorrow's parade so later I'll post some photos. Looking forward to it! And it seems that this year, unlike in year's past, it should be a little cooler with highs in the mid-80s. On the downside, the Shelby weather forecast for tomorrow's festivities includes scattered thunderstorms. That's bad.

"When I was a boy," I too rode my little banana-seat coaster bike in Shelby's Bicycle Days Parade. It was carefully adorned with wheel-spoke noise-makers and handlebar streamers. Man, I could pop some wheelies on that thing. But proudly, if not reservedly, I displayed my bikemanship during this annual Shelby Parade under the hot summer sun. Inevitably, impatient and energetic youngsters would often crash into one another, sending adjacent kids tumbling to the asphalt - albeit at less than 1-mile per hour.

Shelby Bicycle Days Parade Festival 2008

(Note: Also see "Shelby Bicycle Days 2009")

NOTE: Today's posting is more current of a current events posting than anything else. More Shelby Nostalgia to come in the very near future.

This summer's combination 4th of July festivities and Shelby's Bicycle Days parade brings lots of fun, wholesome, small town entertainment for the whole family. See the lineup below:

11 JULY: Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

LOG CABIN OPEN NOON - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

RIDES OPEN NOON - 10:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

FOOD CONCESSIONS OPEN NOON - 10:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue

VENDOR EXHIBITS OPEN NOON - 10:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

LOVE BONES PERFORMANCE 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

SHELBY MUSEUM OPEN 1:00 PM - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

East Main Street

NEW WASHINGTON BAND PERFORMANCE 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park Band Stand

KIDDIE ROYALTY CROWNING CEREMONY 6:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park Band Stand

ASYLUM PERFORMANCE 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

12 JULY: Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

WHIPPET 5K RUN

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

7:30 AM - Registration at Central Gym

8:15 AM - Fun Run on High School Avenue

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM - Whippet 5K Run

LOG CABIN OPEN NOON - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

VENDOR EXHIBITS OPEN NOON - 9:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

RIDES OPEN NOON - 11:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

FOOD CONCESSIONS OPEN NOON - 11:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue

SHELBY MUSEUM OPEN 1:00 PM - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

East Main Street

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival Parade Registration & Line-Up 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Grand Blvd & Wentz Avenue

12 JULY Shelby Bicycle Days Festival Parade 2:00 PM

Parade Route: Main Street to South Gamble to Tucker Avenue

Bike Races Immediately following parade--approximately 3:30

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Main Street

Shelby Helpline Ministries Pie Auction Immediately following parade--3:30

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park Band Stand

GREG BELL PERFORMANCE 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

THE RELICS PERFORMANCE 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

CLOVERLEAF SQUARE DANCERS PERFORMANCE 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue & Main Street (Central Park area)

12 JULY FIREWORKS 10:00 PM
Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Skiles Field

The above Bicycle Days Festival information was culled from the Shelby Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.shelbyoh.com .

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.