My Vintage Journeys: April 2013

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A VINTAGE PARADE IN SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

FOLKLORIC AT PARADE

HORSES IN PARADE

The 55^th Annual Swallows Day Parade in the lovely old city of San Juan Capistrano. This is a vintage parade where just about everyone wears western attire and horses prevail. No motorized vehicles are allowed which includes mortorized wheel chairs. The theme this year is “Happy Trails.

This was particularly special because my son, Ben, and his girlfriend, who were visitng from Iowa, and my daughter, Anna, and her husband were joining us. It was also a chance to visit my brother, Fred, and his good friends from Belize. We all met at my brother's home in San Juan Capistrano and then made the leisurely 20 minute walk to the town center.

We arrived at the parade route in time to hear the National Anthem. This was followed by members of the sponsoring Fiesta Association casually parading through in traditional western attire. The official parade that followed consisted of hundreds of horses, bands, military members, flags, wagons pulled by horses, folkloric dancers, baton twirlers and, of course, the two official poop-scoopers were very busy in between. The parade lasted about three hours. It was a little slow at times, but the crowd of approximately 40,000 seemed to be having a good time.

We left a little early to tour the town where there was live music and plenty of libations. We walked through the well-preserved Los Rios Historic District where the original builders of the nearby Mission lived. The festival pays tribute to the unique history of the area which includes the Juaneňo Indians who were the original inhabitants of the area. The Juaneňo Indians provided the manpower for building the Mission of San Juan Capistrano in the late 1700's. The tribe is currently headquartered here with over 2,800 active members. We were able to tour one of the old adobe homes where they had lived.

ADOBE HOME

The Mission of San Juan Capistrano is famous for the annual return of the swallows on March 19,^th St Joseph's Day. They winter in Argentina, 5000 miles away. There is a celebration at the mission every year when the the bells ring and the children dress up as monks and swallows. I was curious

about the swallow return this year—it turns out they did not show up. According to the experts they are flying a little late this year.

There were a lot of horses in the parade and for good reason. San Juan Capistrano is considered “The Equestrian Capital of the West Coast.” It has over 53 miles of local trails and the Olympic Field Trials.

The entire festival is made possible by the hard work and dedication of the Fiesta Association which has over 250 volunteers.