Back to the Halloween Parade

 

10/24/26 Maple Leaf Halloween Parade
The traffic cone was my favorite costume!

The drizzle that turned into rain didn’t deter the kids, dogs and their families who turned out for the Maple Leaf Halloween Parade. Beginning at Maple Leaf Park, the slow-moving parade eventually wound its way past neighborhood businesses and even homes along the route who gave out candy. Although I didn’t follow the parade as I have some years, I had fun catching what I could while everyone gathered at the park. I wished I’d snapped photos of the funny costumes, but I can either sketch or photograph but not both!

Greg and I always enjoyed watching the parade together. After he moved to memory care, I stopped going – I didn’t have the heart to go alone because I knew it would make me miss him (and feel sadness for all that he was missing).

This year I decided to go. I need to start doing things again that I used to enjoy with him. One of the hardest things about loss is that the parade goes on; I don’t want to keep missing it just because I miss him.

The banana man was taking pics of his wife and child, also dressed like bananas. I regret that I couldn't sketch the whole family!

Technical note: You can see a few raindrops here and there, but it was raining much harder than my sketchbook indicates. That's definitely a benefit of using waterproof markers like the Pitt Artist Brush Pens I used.