Day #5: What a Grand Parade...and More! (continued)

When you attend parades such as this one, it's a known fact that there will be people throughout the parade handing out candy to the kids along the route, but why just for the kids?  We hauled our butts down in the sweltering heat for this thing; don't we deserve a little something, too?  The big thing this year was these little bottles of bubbles, apparently based around the theme or something, so why not hand out little bottles of, say, booze for the older kids?  It just might make this parade interesting...
 

Possibly the most creative float in the entire parade, this is a bee hive made by the patrons of the Otsego County Library. Nothing too funny about it, but come on, you can't expect us to be funny all the time!

Anyone who was at this parade knows that it was extremely drawn out and unbearably long.  It seems like anyone who lives within a five mile radius of Otsego county is automatically eligible to be a part of this parade, and this gave us a great idea...

What if we were in the parade?  Yeah, that's right, what if Just Laugh magazine made an appearance in the Alpenfest parade?  We've got an entire year to get ready for this thing, but how tough would it really be?  All we need is a convertible and a hot chick for us to elect queen of something or other, so if you'd like to contribute either of these things, let us know!  We're even working on creating our own candy to hand out to the kids along the route:

Everyone cheered as the county's fire fighting crew drives by, but we found ourselves asking one question:  What happens if there's a fire during the parade???

(Non-Humorous Rock and Roll Plug) If you're cruising around Northern Michigan and are looking for some good rock 'n roll, tune in to Double Rock KLT @ 97.5 & 98.9 FM on your dial.  It's pretty much the only thing worth listening to up here...

It certainly must suck to be low man on the totem pole during this time of year! There's a small bit of respect that must be shown for anyone who has the guts to walk around in public wearing a gigantic foam head - not just anyone could pull it off. The funny thing is this: Albie's Pasties is currently on the verge of going out of business in Gaylord, so this could very well be the owner of the company!

We couldn't take much more of this thing, but luckily it ended before going into its third hour.  After a quick lunch well away from the festival action, we were back to capture footage for our last day at Alpenfest.  Would we find anything entertaining that hadn't been exploited already?  Probably not, but that was a chance we were willing to take!
 

When we tell you that there's no other place like Northern Michigan, here's another good example of what we're talking about.  This is the most current mode of transportation we have. The gas mileage isn't too bad, but they're a bitch during the winter!

We asked this man what he thought of Alpenfest and needless to say, he was speechless! Actually, this is a statue of some famous guy that sits in a park downtown, so we got to know him quite well.  We thought that this would be a great place to insert a little history about the city and some of its people, but since neither of us know much about these things, we won't. The picture did turn out pretty good, though, don't you think?

It's not over yet, so continue on for a look at the final festivities of the evening, including two awesome concerts, the closing ceremony, and our final thoughts.  Yes, that's right, our final thoughts...