Despite downpour, Lindale Park neighbors enjoy a parade.
Young and old attend event, saying rain can’t halt respect of liberty
Torrential rain, wind gusts and flooded streets would not deter Lindale Park from holding its annual Fourth of July parade on Wednesday morning.
Several hundred residents in the north Houston neighborhood braved the rough weather to witness the annual procession up and down Irvington Boulevard.
Lalita Jimenez, who wore a poncho and sat beneath an umbrella with her 1-year-old daughter, Flor, said she has attended the parade the past five years and was reluctant to break the tradition.
“I like the spirit of the parade, and the honor that people have,” Jimenez had.
Staying dry was impossible, but parade watchers and participants did what they could. Sheriff’s deputies wrapped their Stetsons in plastic. Residents huddled under the hatchbacks of their SUVs. Bagpipers tried to keep rain from dripping into their instruments. Children stood on bus stop benches — though sometimes the urge to splash in gargantuan puddles proved irresistible.
Veronica Casanova trekked all the way down from Humble for the event, and said she was pleased organizers decided against canceling.
“We come down to Lindale Park because they put on a good parade,” Casanova said.
“We have friends who have lived here for 30 years, and we always enjoy it.”
Across the street, 5-year-old Naomi Sanchez sat high and dry in a covered wagon. One of the only children along that section of the route, she was deluged with candy, necklaces and other trinkets thrown from floats. The gifts pelted her wagon and splashed in the mud beside her.
Her favorite part of the parade, she said exasperatedly, was the marchers.
Still, there was no stopping the heavenly dumping, which turned much of Irvington Boulevard’s esplanade to muck, disintegrated reporters’ notebooks into pulp and overwhelmed stormed drains. At spots along the route, the water was ankle-deep.
Some elected leaders and candidates, like Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and Harris County Precinct 2 commissioner candidate Adrian Garcia, walked the parade route and were drenched. Others waved from the comfort of enclosed vehicles.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning just before the parade began at 10 a.m. By the time it concluded about half an hour later, many of the streets in the neighborhood were covered in water.
Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree Don Quintero, dressed sharply in a suit and red cape, said as long as there was no lightning, he was determined to march in his neighborhood parade for the ninth consecutive year. He brought along his Boy Scout troop, from Pack 1138, which he wanted to teach about the importance of Independence Day.
“We remind everyone that this liberty is not a given,” Quintero said as he marched.