Emma Philbrook: Student Life

A s this is apparently the special Days of Real Sport historical issue, I thought I'd share a few personal memories of the event.

Last year was my first year on the Columbia County Fair Court, and the Days of Real Sport parade was our first parade of the year.

The float had been lavishly decked out through many hours of meticulous labor. It depicted, among other things: the harvest moon, a giant treasure chest, a waterfall, a river, baskets of flowers and fruit, and a red barn with a quilt for a roof.

It was a nice float. In fact, it took first place in the 'Royalty' division.

And as it lurched forward to begin its journey down Main Street, one of my fellow hostesses (although I can't remember which) hollered "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Fast forward a year. One of last year's Columbia County hostesses is now a princess on the court of Popsicle Stand Celebration Days. I, meanwhile, am with the Columbia County court again and beyond excited to show off our new float in the parade, which I hear is going to be bigger than ever. I've faithfully attended the Waitsburg parade for as long as I can remember. I've even been in it a couple times - on the Columbia County Fair float, marching with the Waitsburg Band, and riding my bike as a little kid.

Did any of the entrants really stick in my head? Well, yes and no. It seems that most of my parade memories as a little kid involve mounted fair courts - queens and princesses on horses.

I never actually talked to one or waved back at one, but there was something about the gentle, rhythmic clip-clop of their horses' hooves and the elaborate bouquets on the back of their saddles that make them cling in my memory. I don't recall paying much attention to faces or outfits, except to note that the blouses matched those beautiful flowers.

In the back of my head is a slew of eclectic memories of random courts. With unnatural vividness, I seem to recall one court that wore shirts entirely covered with blue sequins and had copious swells of blue and white roses on the backs of their saddles. I think the queen was blonde. Other than the mounted courts, the thing I remember most vividly from watching parades as a little kid is that old felt sign that hung above Main Street on a row of shiny vinyl flags. "Days of Real Sport," it read, and that always confused me. To my five-year-old mind, a sport was something like basketball or tennis. I didn't know about the horse races, so the whole thing confused me - was the parade a sport? Were there teams? Where was the ball, and why wasn't anyone keeping score?

For me back then, the celebration began and ended with the parade, and that was enough fun to last me nearly all year.

This year, of course, the festival will be more family oriented. Kids' contests in the park, some crazy stuff with livestock, live music, a duckie race, and a showing of the movie "Babe" are all on the schedule.

Plus, among the horse races on Saturday is an event where every contestant is one of those marvelous mounted fair-court girls.

Five-year- old me would've been in heaven.