Hey everyone -- it's time to think about signing yourself and your MINI up for EIM's annual entry into this year's Swamp Fox Festival Parade. It will be held in Marion, IA on Saturday, Sept. 12th. We had great representation at last year's parade and we're looking forward to an even greater MINI presence this year!

****Please send an email to our parade coordinator Larry at huskerfanlarry@msn.com not later than August 12th and let him know of your plans to join our MINI caravan in the parade. All area MINIs are warmly welcome to join us. The more, the merrier. Please spread the word!****

More details below...



This year, our entry in the parade will include escorting our very own "Miss Eastern Iowa MINIs 2009" in Steve and Bobbi's Cool Blue MCS Cabrio. (In fitting with the Swamp Fox theme she's a Marion native, granddaughter of one of our members, and eager to represent us!) We also have a couple of other things in the works that have the potential to make this year's entry in the parade a most memorable event.

Schedule details are forthcoming, but at last year's parade our MINIs congregated between 8:00 and 8:30 am at the car wash located at the intersection of South 11th St and Grand Ave to do some pre-parade sprucing, decorating, and socializing. It's probably a good idea to plan on meeting at the same place and time since it worked so well. As I recall, we needed to be all staged and ready by 9:30 am. Larry will likely be circulating a more detailed parade itinerary closer to the date of the event.

Also, many of us stayed around after the parade to check out all of the food and beverage tents, local bands, and the vendor booths at the downtown Marion square. The dessert line had more kinds of pie than I'd ever seen in one place before. You should plan on checking it out!

Here's some pics from last year's parade to get you in the mood: http://www.easterniowaminis.org/?page_id=56

See you there!

 

We will try and make it if we can get off work, would it be OK if we bring our dog with us?
Thanks Craig & Bertie

 

we will be there

 

We will love to have you. I have added you (and your dog) to the list.

-Larry
REDMINI

 

Fourteen (14) MINI's so far... Great, we beat last year. We could use a good photographer along the route to document our day. Volunteer's?

 

Just updating this thread for consistency...I think Larry said at last report we're up to 18 MINIs confirmed.

 

Yes, 18 MINI's have registered. We still could use a good photographer along the way though.

 

Would't a mediocre photographer do in a pinch?

 

We have two professional photographers in the group...too bad we're both to lazy to walk the route and take photos...

 

Here's some pics from today, courtesy of this mediocre photog...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmm57/s...7622351831300/

We enjoyed the parade a bunch, and the weather really cooperated with us. Folks' comments about the MINIs are just priceless. It was sure great to see everybody out with us today.

Hope to see you all again on Oct 3rd!

 

WOW What a great day

 

We sure had fun! Here is a link to my photos from the day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3028273...7622355498268/

 

Cool pics Linda! I wish I had your eye...the portrait of Mike and Maria and the last one of the flag are especially creative. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Swamp Fox Parade this year. I have some pictures posted to Flickr. First time I did it so hope it turns out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmini...7622358141628/

-Larry & Pam
REDMINI

 

You haven't been "mediocre" for a long time. Great pics.

 

It did.

 

Excellent pictures. I too, like the "waiting" photo that Gary mentioned. Good stuff. What's the story with the ring? You can tell me about it in person in a few weeks.

 

Great pictures, Larry. You do great work.

 

I posted some photo in an EIM Gallery. I'm guessing Gary will add some more later.

 

Rob, thanks for doing the grunt work setting up the Gallery pages on the website -- and for the pics too. I'll glean more photos from all of the Flickr pages and supplement the website Gallery with a few more. It was great seeing you and Lisa again. We looked around for you up on the square afterward but couldn't find you guys in the crowd.

Daryl -- we missed you!

 

We grabbed some Pie and made a dash for home to catch the end of the game. Sorry we didn't stick around for long but I had to see the hawks crush the clones

 

Thank you all for the compliments! I can not take credit for the flag photo. Tom took that and it was kind of a mistake but I thought it was cool. Anything from inside the car is Tom's handiwork. He is getting lots of practice.

I enjoy seeing everyone's photos. So many great shots!