July 4 - Americana part 1

July 4, Independence Day.  The true start to summer for a lot of folks.  School is out and its a holiday and a time for celebration.   As a Canadian, I get to celebrate both Canada Day (July 1) and Independence Day, although my Canada Day celebrations are more limited to wishing friends and family a great holiday and perhaps toasting to Canada with a Labatt's product.

But more than any other holiday, the 4th of July is truly a small (and large) town celebration.  This year I decided to skip the fireworks, mostly due to riduculous traffic associated with them, and focus on the daytime celebrations.

Mckinney has its Red, White and Boom celebration.  Its starts of with the Hometown Parade through downtown Mckinney.  I tried to find a good spot to position myself but even by 10 am the sun was very bright and harsh.  I guess one big difference with a parade in the summer is that school is out and there are not school bands, etc.