Fourth of July 1966

This picture was taken July 4, 1966. A few weeks before this photo, everyone at the Green Mountain Lodge and the River View Inn were working on this 4th of July parade float. I remember Mom had ladies in the beauty shop making flowers for the float. She would set their hair, put them under the dryer, and give them a box of tissue to make flowers. The float was built in a garage at the Rio Colorado Lodge. There was a platform under all of those flowers and netting with a small barrel. I stood in that barrel twirling my parasol and smiling and waving to the crowd. I was a Southern Belle at eight years old. When it came time for the parade, no one knew how to get me in the barrel without smashing the flowers and netting. For me, it was easy. In my pretty dress and white gloves, I climbed up in the rafters of the garage, skimmed down a beam, and dropped in to my barrel. The parade was on!

A week or so earlier, I had gone to Glen Calhoun’s grocery store on High Street to purchase something. Mr. C had all the 4th of July trophies on display. Being an eight-year-old, I picked out the biggest trophies and said, "We are going to win all of those." Mr. C did not think I was funny and informed me that there was no way I could win all of those trophies. One trophy was for Best Float. One was for Little Miss Red River, and one was for Best Cowboy. Well, we did win Best Float. I did win Little Miss Red River. My brother, Craig, won Best Cowboy (he rode one of Ernie’s horses from White Horse Stables). My "summer sister" Sheila, who happened to live with us at the Green Mountain Lodge and worked across the street at the River View Inn, won Miss Red River and got one other big trophy. Yes there was a bit of a stink about us winning all the first place trophies, but hey, we were the best that year. Our float was asked be in the Taos parade during Fiesta. We won over there too. It was a good summer.