| Advertisement |
|
|
BRAWLEY – People packed the sidewalks as tractors, marching bands, politicians and much more made a steady stream of Cattle Call-themed fun come down Main Street on Saturday morning during the annual parade.
Brawley resident Esther Banda said her family has come every year for decades.
“It’s always a little different every year. It’s getting together to enjoy time with family and friends,” she said. “It’s a generation after generation routine we do with our family.”
Her family filled the back of a pickup with many of them wearing Western-style wear.
“It’s always good for the community, good for the city of Brawley and good for the Imperial Valley,” her brother-in-law Robert Cortez said.
They agreed it was also especially nice to have the Central Union High School marching band back in the parade after rivalry with the Brawley Union High School team drove it away for a few years.
Families came in from all over the Valley and even outside of it with some saying they had come their whole lives and others experiencing it for the first time.
Marching bands seemed to be the favorite of many in the crowd, their eyes lighting up when the cymbals began to clash, drums were banged and horns blared in unison from all the Valley’s major high schools.
“For a small town, these high school bands are awesome,” Fresno resident Ruby Bracker said. “It’s really surprising and a big, big plus. It brings the whole parade to life. With no music it’s just a parade.”
Brawley resident Carolina Luna said she’s only missed one Cattle Call parade and thought the bands and music were definitely her favorite part.
The well-coordinated parade featured more than 120 participants including the Hidalgo Society, 4-H clubs, law enforcement entities such as U.S. Border Patrol as well as numerous bands, drill teams and cheerleaders.
Los Vigilantes service club, which has a long tradition of working parades, was on hand to make sure everything went smoothly during the event that lasted more than an hour.
Crowd members young and old excitedly waved as the Brawley Union High School football team and this year’s winner of the Bell Game made its way down Main Street in the parade.
Rodeo queens did a well-practiced “royal wave” to the audience from classic cars or jeweled and glittery horses as little children dressed as cowboys shot play guns at each other alongside the parade.
“It’s fantastic, very nice,” Luis Garcia said. “It’s bigger than I thought it would be, a very good crowd,”
Staff Writer Chelcey Adami can be reached at 760-337-3452 or cadami@ivpressonline.com
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.