After a week of rain, Boston gave its visitors and residents a glorious sunny day as participants gathered for the 2006 Lions Club International Parade. Rested and full of vinegar, the Six White Horses and Cowboy Band showed Boston a thing or two.

Lined up a full hour before the start, the west Texans drew such admiring crowds, the local gendarmes had their hands full clearing a path for the start of the parade. Clearly, cowboys and horses have lost none of their appeal for the rest of the nation…and the world.

The band hob-nobbed with delegates from India,

Invited the new Lion’s Club International president, Mr. Jimmy Ross for a photo op (in Black pin-stripe suit),

And milled about as the start time approached

Then they were off, with flags proudly waving, serenading the crowds with real western flavor.

When people call the Six White Horses and Cowboy Band “ambassadors,� they know what they’re talking about. Of all the parade marchers, bands, floats, and other assorted entrants, only the HSU students really put on a show. Band members periodically peeled off and sang to the crowds along the curbs of the parade route, or took the hands of children and twirled them around to their obvious delight. Mini Me got a year’s worth of hugs and pats in the .7 mile parade, and was the shutterbug favorite for delegates from all the assembled nations. One little girl reached out to touch the boots of a Six White Horses rider during a pause in the march and said, “Daddy, I want to grow up to be like them.�

Yes, HSU put on a show today. I heard at least 7 versions of “those HSU horses/Cowboys just made this parade� on the way back to the marshalling area. Even when walking into a restaurant at lunch, complete strangers saw the logo on my shirt and said, “Hardin-Simmons, huh? That band was the best entertainment out there!� At least I think that’s what they said; people talk really fast up here.

The route wasn’t especially long, but it was all uphill, and marchers were walking a little slower getting back onto the bus than when getting off, but like all good entertainers, they gave their best with glad hearts; and made a difference in quite a few lives today.

Next up…The Ice Cream Social for the Texas delegation at 8:00 tonight.