It is July 4th. We are up pretty early on a beautiful bright sunny morning. It is heading for 95F. We need to find a holiday-appropriate activity to cool off. That’s when we decide, yes, we are going to the Fourth of July Wet Parade in Pueblo West. It is exactly what it sounds like, parade goers and paraders engage in a 1 ½ mile long water battle. Sounds pretty unmanageable right? You ought to see the list of rules published to attempt to do so.
We arrive at the wet end of the parade route (the first ½ mile is designated dry – as in no water battle allowed). Our first thought is to walk to the dry end thinking we don’t want to get dripping wet but get caught up in the spirit and decide to stay along the wet portion of the route. We are unarmed and a bit older than the rest of the crowd so as long as we don’t get caught up in an active spectator battle wet parade etiquette seems to limit our exposure to light, long-distance volleys. We get just wet enough to be reminded that this is a different sort of celebration.
We settle into a viewing area just a bit back from the road and among family spectators. The Mayor suspended water restrictions for the event. Parking regulations have been relaxed allowing locals to pre-park along the parade route 3 DAYS in advance. The place is a bit crazy. There are tanks of all shapes and sizes and even pickup beds lined with tarps and filled with water. Pre-parade engagement rules seem to be “any one armed is fair game”. If they are still dry, they are premium targets. Spirits are high and groups rove the street coalescing into a flash mob to douse randomly selected sideliners. It is hot and the sun is blazing. We gladly accept the occasional overspray. The parade is actually a bit tamer as float riders (all prepared for the onslaught and most returning fire) are absolutely inundated. No bands. Only one brave politician. The honor guard is actually a van with flags out all the just cracked open windows. It is all as far from patriotic as any 4th celebration I know of; but it is a great way to welcome in summer.
Fireworks, gotta find some. We settle in at Pueblo West City Civic Park around 8PM. We know just the place to watch from, a lush picnic lawn we walked through earlier today. Still an hour or more until dark but locals are already lighting up the sky with some pretty impressive fireworks of their own. We relax in the cool evening air to enjoy the show. One, two, three high explosions signal the beginning of the official display. We don’t even get the first oh or ah out before we hear the hiss of sprinkles, literally right under our blanket, firing off. We scramble out of reach and take in the rest of the show, standing, to make it easier to stay out of the spray as the rest of the zones come on in turn. The day ends as unordinary as it began.