Making Wishes Come True

Hot Harley Nights

Making wishes come true for 21 years!

Since that very first event 21 years ago, Hot Harley Nights has been bringing people together in support of Make-a-Wish(R) South Dakota, and has raised over 2.5 million dollars in the process. The event features a  motorcycle parade that begins at J & L Harley Davidson and travels through town eventually reaching downtown. This years event ran from July 7th to July 10th with many family friendly activities at various locations throughout Sioux Falls. 

 

While many people choose to watch the parade at locations other than downtown, many like me prefer to be right in the thick of things. To get a good spot it is a good idea to head down at least an hour before the parade starts. I got there an hour early and as you can see by the above photo I wasn't the only one.

 By a half hour before the parade the street was pretty well lined. Police officers lead the parade blocking intersections so that the parade could pass through.

They were followed by motorcycles bearing the US Flag.

 Then came cars with the Wish children.

And the parade was officially in full swing. Not to disappoint the crowd there was even a teddy bear wish float pulled by a motorcycle

It was obvious from the many fun accessories that the riders wanted to contribute to making the parade extra fun for the viewers.

Of course what would Hot Harley Nights be without Harley's. Don't worry there were tons of them!

 There were sidecars!

 There were choppers!

Sport bikes!

 And trikes!

 Cruisers!

 Police Bikes!

 Mopeds!

 and even itty bitty mini bikes!

 But wait, that's not all.

There were quad-runners!

 Golf carts!

and even a T- bucket!

 With such a variety in the parade some observers decided to add their own unique spice to the parade.

This kind snake charmer even granted a few wishes himself. Below he assists a Bride who has asked if her photographer can get a few photos of the happy couple with his snake. I was a bit jealous because I really wanted to be that photographer. Instead I settled on a few behind the scene bystander shots which I posted on my photo blog here.

 Needless to say there were many smiling faces

 and a great showing of pride.

As this spectators shirt reminds us, we should strive for greatness. I believe Hot Harley Nights has done just that. 

Today I am sharing this wonderful event with Unknown Mami's Sunday In My City.

Festival of the Bands

This year marked the 28th year that Sioux Falls has hosted the regional Festival of the Bands. The all day event was held on the first Saturday of October, and started off with a fun parade. 

Along with all the very talented marching bands there were a number of fun parade entries, like the mini replica of the USS South Dakota and of course a few mascots joined in as well.

I was rather sad that I messed up the focus on the above photo, but I do like the way it turned out when converted to more of a sketch. These Minutemen led what turned out to be one of my favorite bands. I was very impressed with their fantastic performance.

They were the most creative with their formations, which they changed up at least three times as they marched past us.

They even captured my youngest granddaughters attention, which none of the other bands seemed to be able to do. Click here to see what captured her attention.

As this next band approached I learned my granddaughter's cousin on her mother's side was marching in this band. I did manage to get a nice shot of him and a couple of his band mates.

Next came my oldest granddaughter with her flute.

 

This group of dancers lead their marching dancing band with so much joy and enthusiasm that it was contagious. I was so amazed when I saw that the band was dancing the same dance, dipping and twirling as they played their instruments that I forgot to get a picture of them.

I do have to say that I was a little bit disappointed by the hosting school's performance. Lincoln High School is well know for it's marching band and has repeatedly been invited to march in NY at the Macy's Day Parade and from what I understand has been invited this year to march in Hollywood, Ca. They were good but the song they did was not very original and after seeing some really amazing marching formations by proceeding bands their formation was boring.

Sorry Lincoln but your stiff regimented procession combined with a rather dull song was good but not great.

All and all for a chilly October morning we had a great time.

OpSail 2012: Sea and Air Parade

Wanting to be sure and get a close parking spot and good view I arrived for the parade quite early.

I decided I wanted a shot of the Anzio as it first entered the Waterside Park area so I chose this spot which was pretty empty at first. This grandmother and her cute little granddaughter and I spent about an hour visiting and watching the boats on the waterway.

We could just barely see the lead ships in the parade when a couple of tug boats decided to park right in front of us. Fortunately the captain of this boat realized they were blocking the view and decided to move.

 We were very thankful as once they moved this is the sight that met our eyes.

 In the lead was a US Coast Guard vessel followed by a couple of Fire Boats.

 Next came my son-in-law's ship the USS Anzio.

After the Anzio passed I decided to hurry down the boardwalk and capture a few shots from further down. There were quite a few people out to see the parade.

Above the USS Anzio passes the RFA Argus as it heads back to dock at Norfok Naval base.
Here the RFA Argus which was the largest vessel in the parade to come all the way into Norfolk  is getting ready to be turned with the aid of the tug boats.

 It was an amazing sight, watching as they spun this huge ship. I have to admit I was a bit worried they wouldn't have enough room it was so big. But they got her turned around without any problems.

Knowing I could not stay for the entire parade I headed back to the spot where I started to capture a couple more shots of the next ship coming in. It wasn't until I was going through the photos that I realized how good my timing had been. The ship coming in is the Brazilian BNS Independencia and the couple in the right corner are wearing shirts with Brazil on the sleeve.

I moved to another spot so I could get a clearer shot of the Brazilian ship before going in search of the docks where some of these ships would be docking for the duration of the festival.

I was finally rewarded when I found this spot just as the BNS Independencia was anchoring to the dock.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to the OpSail festival for the Tall Ship Parade and get shots of both the tall ships and more of the military vessels.