Phil overheard Josh and I talking about how Josh was working the Martin Luther King, Jr parade in Savannah today and asked if I would take him, and off we went! It was a fun morning spent hanging out on Broughton street. Phil munched on a chocolate chip cookie, I sipped a chocolate chai from The Coffee Fox, and we watched police cars, fire trucks, cars and trolleys full of dignitaries, and marching bands go by.

I’m not sure if it was a theme that was set for the year, or if this is a widely known saying about Martin Luther King, Jr day, but the following saying was on a bunch of the parade entries and I dug it:

“Learn the history
Appreciate the sacrifice
Live the dream”

(This is Phil inspecting the sidewalk where we were sitting)

It was interesting trying to put this parade in perspective for a 3 year old. He understands what Christmas is about, and the Rincon Christmas parade is a no brainer.

But why did this one not have people joyfully tossing candy out of cars, he wondered. I did the best I could with it. I asked him if he noticed that sometimes people had different colored skin, and he said yes. “Well, this is a very special parade for a guy who said we should all be friends no matter what color we are,” I told him.

He seemed to get it. I’m sure we’ll talk about it again soon, that’s how these things go when he’s had a little time to process.

If you’re a parent considering taking your kids to the MLK day parade, Broughton street is absolutely the way to go in terms of where to watch. We turned from Bay onto Whitaker and parked in the underground lot there, and had a 10 minute walk to Broughton and Whitaker. Some parade-goers bring chairs; we just sat on the curb. My sources say watching from MLK Blvd is less family friendly, in that there’s way more people and quite a few of em are drinking.

Happy MLK day, everyone!