Don't blink

SPIRIT LAKE - It didn't take Ed Hornby long to review Spirit Lake's Labor Day parade.

"It was awful long," the Blanchard man said, laughing.

His friend, Joe Edwards, was equally impressed.

"You don't have to stand in the sun very long," he said, grinning.

Nope, not long at all.

Try nine minutes for what's billed as "the world's second-shortest parade."

The veterans of Roy Racy VFW Post 1473 led the process starting at 11 a.m. sharp Monday, and it ended with front-end loaders and heavy equipment operators rolling up to City Park at 11:09.

In between, there were dogs, llamas, horses, go-carts, ATVs, riding lawn mowers, classic cruisers and even a politician or two.

All followed the two-block route they've been following for years: Start at Third and Maine, go one block, take a left, travel one block on Fourth. Done.

All told, it took a shade over 3 minutes for an entry to cover the distance.

Joy Porter, parade organizer for around three decades, believes the title of world's shortest parade belongs to Wenatchee or Walla Walla for a St. Patrick's Day celebration.

"So I proclaimed this the world's second-shortest because who's going to argue for the title of second shortest," she said with a chuckle.

Besides, she likes being in charge of this one.

"It's one of the times I can tell everybody where to go and what to do, and they do it," she said.

Under sunny skies, the crowd of a few hundred lined up in front of the Linger Longer Lounge and the White Horse Saloon on Maine Street. Parents snapped pictures, kids held plastic bags in hopes of snagging some candy, and grandparents reminisced about the old days.

If you're looking for a piece of Americana, you would have found it here.

Jim Shepperd of Coeur d'Alene, who arrived early with friend Mary Batchelder to claim front row seats, said he has been attending the parade each year since the '50s. He loved to bring his kids along, and they climbed trees and played while waiting for the main attraction.

"It might only last 5 minutes. It's really a good parade," he said, then adding, "It's my kind of parade."

And Trish King's kind, too.

She walked her llama, named Tony Llama, through the parade route, as she waved and smiled.

"This is great. It's just the right length," she said.

Paul Murray of Harrison enjoyed it for the same reason.

"It's the shortest parade," he said.

Jim Reed of Spirit Lake rode his 1940 H-model John Deere tractor in the parade. There's a bit of history behind it, he said. He came to be its owner, he explained, because his father traded his grandfather's horses for it one year.

"My granddad was fit to be tied when he came back and his horses were gone," Reed said, chuckling. "He had this monster in the barn, he didn't know what to do with it. He learned to love it.

The tractor, Reed said, is as old as he is, which is why he likes to be part of the parade.

"I need all the publicity I can get at my age," he said.

The Spirit Lake Labor Day parade is sponsored by Roy Racy VFW Post 1473. Anyone is free to take part. There's no advance registration. No forms. Just be there by 11.

Porter said she once had the Idaho State Police join in. Seems the trooper, having finished an early lunch, drove up just as the parade was starting out.

"I handed him an entry tag and waved him into my parade," Porter said, grinning. "I figured I was into the big time."

Occasionally, people will ask Porter, why don't you make the parade longer?

She knows why.

"I say, 'Until somebody's having trouble seeing the parade, then we'll talk about it. It's not an endurance contest," she said.

No, it's not. And if you're not careful, and look away too long, it might just pass you by.

That's what happened to Joe Edwards.

"I blinked my eyes and missed it," he said.