Happy 6th of July

Yes, I know its supposed to be Happy 4th, but as usual, I'm  a day two days late and  a dollar short.  When we're home, we head over to Taylorsville to enjoy the 4th of July festivities. 

As the sign indicates, Taylorsville is a very small town.  However, on the 4th of July weekend, population swells to almost 1,000.  The three days prior to the 4th, the campground is full of rigs and horses for the annual team roping. On the 4th, everything gets started with the annual pancake breakfast...

...and then the parade begins!

This wagon was carrying the grand marshall, all well and good, but look at these horses!

Aren't they beautiful? They are red roan Belgians!!

Then we have the prerequisite fire trucks...

A loader (hey, it's a really small town, what can I say?)

And this beautiful orange truck that belongs to a friend of mine.  His name is...wait for it...Bob Orange!

I don't know what this little guy was supposed to be, but he took his job very seriously!!

And finally an entry with some horses.  These girls were the queen contestants for the rodeo, later in the day.

This is the line of team-ropers trying to leave town (there's only one-way in/out). Half the fun for us is looking at the various trailers and rigs as they leave.  I think the one pictured below was the biggest one there. Its a four-horse slant-load with a full living quarters. It probably cost as much as my house!!

These were just two of the bulls waiting for the rodeo to start.  Tell me, what in the world would ever make you want to get on one of these guys knowing his full intent is to get rid of you??  I love watching bull riding, but I think those cowboys are crazy!!

And, finally, there's always someone who takes the 4th of July wardrobe a tad too far. *shrug*  He wasn't even in the parade...