Finding Ulysses

My family enjoyed the Trumansburg Fair a great deal this year. My son made it onto the Tilt-a-Whirl for the first time, although his face looked a little worried by the end of the ride. My daughter was old enough to courageously ride the goat on the carousel. Yes, my daughter rode the goat, and I’m not ashamed to say it. She also took a ride on the painted train twice, and we all had far too much cotton candy. It was great.

We also enjoyed the parade, each in our own way. While my son went scrambling for every piece of candy he could get his hands on, I kept an eye out for political candidates. It would be an exaggeration to say that I saw more politicians than my son got candy, but not much of an exaggeration.

First to arrive was the car representing the Village Board of Trustees, with David Filiberto variously walking along side and hanging out the back, as seen here. Mary Bouchard was driving, and Rose Hilbert was in the passenger’s seat, in front of a sign reading, The Village of Trumansburg Board of Trustees salutes our Volunteer Fire Dept.

I counted three candidates for County Sheriff in the parade, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that I lost one or two along the way. How many candidates are there? Better check up on that one. Our own Pete Meskill, current Tompkins County Sheriff, was present, of course.

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, who is up for re-election this year, walked the whole way, and still looked toward the end, when she passed me by. Democratic congressional candidate Michael Arcuri also was a walker, although his campaign’s contingent was preceded by a red sedan, with his campaign logo on it. Arcuri’s campaign was the only one I noted to have people walking along the sidewalks, handing out campaign literature.

Not a single candidate threw candy to my son. Shouldn’t that be a politician’s parade equivalent of kissing a baby? I suppose they don’t want to be judged by the size of their candy bars.