Aromas Day Parade is unique to the rural city
Most parades feature beautifully restored vehicles that have
been meticulously maintained, polished and pampered.
Not so in Aromas.
Aromas Day Parade is unique to the rural city
Most parades feature beautifully restored vehicles that have been meticulously maintained, polished and pampered.
Not so in Aromas.
This year, the Aromas Day parade, slated for this Sunday at 2 p.m., features a lineup of ugly trucks. No kidding. There’s an Ugly Truck contest, even. And that is more than suitable for a country setting.
You see, when you live out in a rural area, as we do at the corner of San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, you need an ugly truck. Or you need to know someone with an ugly truck. Because when you haul your trash to the dump, or pick up a load of firework, or get hay for your horses, you don’t want to put all that mess in your nice new shiny pickup.
And that’s why you need a truck that’s been dented, dinged, scratched and scraped, with fading paint and missing handles, and a radio that only gets AM stations.
Life in the country is much easier when you have an ugly truck. And so it is more than appropriate that ugly trucks should have a place of honor in the Aromas Day parade.
Along with said trucks, there will be much more to the parade: There will be a Boy Scout contingent carrying the American flag, 4-H’ers riding in other pickup trucks (probably not the ugly ones), classic cars, local politicians, horses, mariachi musicians belting out lively songs, and usually one of our CAL Fire engines with waving firefighters.
Aromas Day is a great day. Once a year, everyone gets together and celebrates the fact that we live in a nice little town. Without the hard work of numerous community groups, led by the Aromas Eagles service club, Aromas Day wouldn’t happen.
There is food and artwork for sale, live music to enjoy, fun for kids, and sales of crafts, plants and much more. There are always a few surprises at Aromas Day, something you weren’t quite expecting, and then there are the things you expect – seeing friends and neighbors that you don’t see all that often, wonderful things for sale, and of course, the parade.
For youngsters, there’s a petting zoo, pony rides and a most impressive climbing wall; I’ve heard also there will be a bounce house and a big slide, among other things. Oh, to be a kid again and to be at Aromas Day.
It all begins with a pancake breakfast at the Aromas Grange hall from 7 to 11 a.m., and the booths and such get going around 9 a.m. The center of town – that several-block radius surrounding our two little markets and the only four-way stop in town – is closed to traffic, but there is a parking area nearby.
And one of the big draws of the day are the garage sales. It has become a kind of tradition for everyone to hold garage sales on Aromas Day, so for people who like garage sales, it’s a truly grand day.
The whole point is for community groups to raise money for their worthy causes, and that is truly something to celebrate. The Aromas 4-H sells plants and preserves to funds its projects, and the Aromas Boy Scouts sell food at their booth so that Scouts can go on campouts. And so it goes for all the nonprofit groups that work so hard on this day.
So if you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Aromas this Sunday, come by and see the ugly trucks. Listen to the music. Pet the bunnies. It’ll be a great day.
