The heat is on and at least one local business closed for the whole week (pre-planned) of the Fourth of July and its weekend, and another was even a bit hot a full 40 feet from its kitchen most of the next week, so hey, imagine how hot it was in there.
So, which businesses would be featured at the parade of the annual Hudson Booster Days fest during the weekend, drawing crowds that for blocks are about three deep along both sides of Second Street? I was so hoping to get a view of the insurance chain commercial’s comedic jerk with a leaf blower. (One I wasn’t too favored to see was the blatant commercialism of getting a free ice cream cone with a gas purchase.)
However, the fireworks were a star, lasting seemingly longer than usual and that was the same for the encore, and drawing mostly glowing comments online, moreso than for their friendly competitors in Stillwater. But on the whole, in the parades I’ve recently seen, these days they don’t seem to be quite what they used to be … Thank goodness we could still see some water guns spraying, by of all things students of a swim school. Not mermaids.
But it was Monday around noon and the fest was past, though there were still the remnants of a fun house on the north end. And moments later, what was left of two ride machines ran its way past, going on Vine Street past the main drag of Hudson.
All that remained of the parade in blocks south were occasional bits of shredded paper on the blacktop. But it seemed you could still hear the blare of trumpets and horns.
There will be more parades this weekend in River Falls and New Richmond, for their pair of summer festivals, and in the latter there was an ad sign spitting out like a spiraling firework the words July 10-17, but no wait, that was for a jewelry store. And Booster Days was July 3-6. Nevermind.
— But this Saturday, July 12, as a part of Fun Fest in New Richmond, and also as a precursor to the St. Croix County Fair, there is to preview the latter a farm implement caravan through the eastern highways and byways of St. Croix County starting at 10 a.m. from the fairgrounds in Glenwood City. One might see farm tractors gigantic, just basic big and small and some in the middle, sloped on the top end back toward the wheel, with big yellow tires the width of a person, or even one looking like a cannon. Catch them as a spectator along county roads. In New Richmond, there is the band SPF-30 hailing from Stillwater that is a mixture of a brand of sunscreen and Scott Van Pelt’s sports show. Actually it is a blend of reggae, calypso and beach music, with “some curve balls thrown in” so see them on the back patio of the Wild Badger early evening. —
At the parade last Saturday, much like last year’s, here’s what we saw …
Yes the marching bands and dance lines and drum corps boasted much greater numbers then in most former days, and were thus very impressive — three or four people across and well over a dozen deep, at times taking more than a minute to meander by — however the whole parade in 2025 was over in an hour, pretty much on the head. That may have been due to, likely, a lack of more numbers because of rain and heat, but it showcased an overall pared down theme. Those several people gathered on the apartment building platform were yeah, it was lengthy, but though awed a bit, as they were by the fireworks, however kind of mum and noncommittal and reflective, though distracted.
— An American goes to … Texas and Wimbleton. You are measured by what you do first, if flooded by many choices. Like reinstate all federal DOGE weather service cuts before there is another once-in-100-year (or 200 year) natural disaster, which seems to happen every other day or so now because of climate change. So Trump goes airborne to survey the massive flood damage first, before meeting with families — which seems logical, to prepare, gather info and plan your strategy for the grilling you are going to get if not due to the weather, but before the press. Rather, just give him a chainsaw so he can do more cutting. And why doesn’t the national press just come out and say it, the reason for having spotters view is so bulldozers don’t plow over already maimed bodies. The area that has been underwater is from the Guadalupe River, and we know how much of a priority we make such people. And for FEMA? Like so many things, it is a matter of lack of available dollars to do things. Damnation by DOGE does even more damage
This visit was right before the weekend. And then on each Sabbath … Donald rested from His evildoing.
And why was the news made of an American reaching the polite tennis semi-finals? We usually seem to reach the top tier of any sport, given our access to the top training methods and technology in the known world! —
The whole parade thing is more and more stripped down, with the big and bold coming from fewer elaborately-styled floats, rather big vehicles — often with seemingly empty trailers, save the big decals and logos of their sides — and when there are objects displayed, they are abruptly large and tall, like moderate-sized monuments.
These days there is not so much all the pageantry of loads of multi-colored ribbons and circular frills, and bows and paper mache. What there is to be seen has been replaced with a whole slaught of red, white and blue, not the diversity of other colors. Need more things like the black-and-yellow of the big “bumblebees” to mix in.
While I do not want to over-politicize what I saw in the parades, there were flags and flamboyant decals and patriotism everywhere, (and where in the world was the Democrat float?), but in the seeming absence of too many other things to stand out, these were the first to catch the eye. And almost overwhelm it. God and country, with the latter first and foremost.
In 2024, on one of the GOP-backing floats was a huge representation of Trump, almost like a monument itself, but in 2025 (and its sentiment) it was just a bunch of youngster twirlers amidst a whole raft of US flags being wafted around by the local partisans.
Trinity Lutheran Church blasted God Bless America on its banner, god bless those conservative MS Lutherans, a background that I come from. I’d say God Bless Everyone.
(Kinda like a sign on the freeway said on one half of it Shimel, (blown away), and the other something like the above paragraph, but no mention of Trump.)
And why didn’t we see the Ukrainian flag?
And at the parade, I did love the red, white and blue armbands, colorful and yes patriotic and worn by just a few, like some of the single and duo walkers not with any particular group. Or in like manner, those candidates off by themselves and handing out candy to youngsters. (But the armbands still much like the leather-studded-metal ones worn at concerts.)
But this could border on controversial, like those all-wheel-numbers type of large vehicles ruling the parade road.
The big-monument theme was also displayed by an eagle with very broad wings and what could have been a nest, and it could have been called a rock, seen for a second time on the route. Later, the word “Titan” on the side of a rare float had letters almost two feet high. And I saw three different sizes of T-Rexs, and a soccer ball that was bigger because it was heavily inflated, and still easier to grasp into without dropping.
One more time for a could-be-controversial statement, the Options For Women applause was a bit tame. Maybe more popular with some in the crowd, Brooke Fleetwood’s pink houses marcher(s) featured a-bit-bare-yellowish outfit style.
Also so, most of the queens and princesses and the like were very decidedly white, both years, and in 2024 the exception was one rather inner-tier Twin Cities suburb. This year on a pair of the many floats there was slightly more of a bit-black-tinted representation, but only on the mere second princess and such level, not a queen mind you, in one display that was suburban and one rural.
Another such place, from very far afield, was the Elmwood of UFO Days that had kids handing candy while in the arms of big, plastic aliens, like the great grey lady of the skies in the song Empire of the Clouds. They’d better not try to spin like the queen that used a chair for that, to face from one side to the other.
Did she get as tired as those spinning and spiraling Raidaire dancers?