July 9, 2008:

Many of Utah's cities host annual celebrations. It's fun to watch the many home-grown parade entries, ranging from cloggers to retirement home buses. Spray bottles have been a common sight at the parades for years, as group leaders walk next to marching bands and dancers, occasionally creating a cool mist for the participants as they walk in the hot sun. From time to time you might see the bottle carriers gently spraying spectators who'd asked for some relief. Nowadays you'll not only see mist-creating bottles, but also a great many of those mega-soaker-type water cannons. If you're not paying attention to vehicles as they both approach and depart, you might get doused by several little leaguers with menacing expressions, who hunker down on flatbed trailers next to large canisters of water. It seems that watching a community parade now requires defensive maneuvers, at least if you want to protect your camera and your corneas.

I saw a clown stop in front of Mayor Daniel Snarr at this year's Murray parade. The clown seemed to tease the mayor for a moment before spraying the front of his shirt with a silly string-type substance [see accompanying photo]. The mayor is to be commended for his patient and good-natured smile following the incident. The clown is fortunate that Murray City doesn't practice the use of a stockade.

Related Link:
A water gun damages the cornea of a S. Korean actress Yoon Eun Hye (Wikipedia)

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