Saginaw PRIDE Christmas Parade: Reflections

A Christmas Parade in Saginaw (Michigan) Stirs Many Thoughts

The Saginaw (Michigan) Christmas Parade, which has just transpired in wonderful fall sunshine on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, passed down a main drag that's a block from my family's home. The following thoughts on the Saginaw Christmas Parade may seem random, but I am just experiencing and digesting them. Therefore, this is sort of a Christmas Parade stream-of-thought piece.

-- Often I describe Saginaw as "Little Detroit," one-tenth the population but the same troubles, but in terms of Christmas parades, Detroit beats Saginaw hands-down. Saginaw doesn't even have airborne floats, much less television cameras. Our highpoint is nicely decorated motor vehicles. The televised Detroit Thanksgiving Day Christmas Parade down Woodward Avenue, in contrast, is almost a rival to the Macy's Christmas Parade in New York City. Detroit still has some life.

-- Saginaw attendance was way down. This seems odd, but maybe not. Let me ponder this quandary. Saginaw is in major distress, with unemployment at 20-plus percent within the city limits. Therefore, one would think that with family finances so tight, that families would jump at the opportunity to enjoy a free-of-charge Christmas Parade in a place like Saginaw. ??? But that didn't happen. Maybe folks are feeling so depressed these days, they don't even want to see a Christmas Parade.

-- Attendance was so sparse, Christmas Parade participants sometimes tossed candy toward the curbsides and there were no little children to scramble for the candy. This is so sad.

-- Still, the Christmas Parade was worth doing, comparisons to Detroit and New York City aside. Here comes my pride in Saginaw, population 56,000, formerly population 101,000 before General Motors went in the tank. We're still fighting. We still care. Times are just so tough.