Hector Fireman's Fair Parade - a festive festival, as always

HECTOR, New York, USA - We perched on the wall in front of Eric and Tina Hazlitt's house on Route 414 Friday night to watch the annual Hector Fireman's Fair parade. Eric and Tina throw a great party and it's the most comfortable spot along the parade route to watch everything.

There were the usual fire trucks - lots of fire trucks - a few political candidates, tons of children and enough music to keep things lively.

After-the-parade traffic moves slowly

The parade shuts down the section of the highway from the Dandy Mart (to the south) to the Hector Firehouse fields (to the north, where the fair is).

Traffic gets rerouted, though sometimes people don't take the advice and end up following the tail end of the parade when it's nearly over.

This year was no different.

Besides shooting still photos, I pulled out the big-gun Panasonic camera and shot some of the floats and marchers.

A lot of them were very cool.

Adm. Fox and I wandered over to the actual fair after the parade, had some French fries, a couple of beers from the beer tent, and called it a successful evening.

Here's a short video of the parade: