Ready for the Faribault Pet Parade?

This Thursday at 7PM is the 81st annual Pet Parade in Faribault, and this year's theme is "Tropical Delight." I can imagine this year's participants both animal and human will be coming up with quite a variety of living up to this theme with weiner dogs wearing hula skirts, palm tree covered islands being pulled by huskies, motorized tiki bars being staffed by parrot bartenders and cats, well, just being cats. They're too hard to keep in a costume but they're cute just being cats.

My best friend, Jerry, and I used to participate in the pet parade when we younger. In those days the event went right down Fourth Street and you could still ride a mini-bike in the parade. We couldn't pass the up the opportunity to drive ours down Fourth Street, so we would decorate our scooters and go to the parade. We always took third place, although that was because there were usually only three entries.

We plan on going to this year's Pet Parade with the grandkids and finding a nice spot along the parade route, which starts at Ninth Street and Second Avenue Northwest, heads south on Second, turns west on Fifth Street and stops at Central Park. I hope to see you at this family fun event, it's a great way to spend a summer evening.

If you have a float or golf cart, make sure you get it registered ahead of time by calling (507) 334-2064. Make sure you’re in your line-up spot by 6:20PM for the 7PM start. You can find out more by visiting the Faribault Park & Rec Facebook page or the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism website.