A Parade of New Year's Parade Photos

By Robert Wilonsky Sat., Jan. 2 2010 at 11:50 AM

Categories: Events

All photos by Harry Wilonsky

"Who's Ron Jackson?" asks the boy. "That's Jason Castro," I tell him. "Who?" "Exactly."

It's no longer the Cotton Bowl Parade that snakes through downtown Dallas on New Year's Day. Wouldn't make sense -- the Cotton Bowl's now in Arlington, in case you missed that breaking news. And so it was the rebranded Comerica Bank New Year's Day Parade that had downtown tied up during the mid-afternoon hours yesterday. The 6-year-old who lives in my house wanted to go -- nothing else to do, he said, making a strong case on a slow day.

So I put him to work: He took all the photos featured after the jump. He also offers the following review: "I liked the parade, because it was very interesting and very fun." To each his own, I tell him, suggesting it was a bit more rinky-dink than I'd expected -- looked more like our neighborhood July 4th parade than a big-city bowl-game kick-off. "I loved the parade," he counters. I tell him that's good, since parades are for kids. "Parades are for everyone," he says. "Doesn't matter how tall or how small." Point taken. Now jump.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, perhaps the most famous person in the New Year's Day Parade, according to my son

Me: "Hey, Harry, who's cuter: Miss Texas or Miss Oklahoma?" Harry: "They kinda look the same."

The Crow Collection of Asian Art float, which was at least identifiable. Unlike, say, the following ...

... or the next one ...

One had to admire the retro outfits brought by the Washington Township, New Jersey, contigent.

Found this one while sorting through the 2,293 photos the boy returned with. As I explained to Harry, Bald Knob is "where the Ozarks meet the Delta." No reason to laugh.