“Celebrate Mobile” Parade Kicks Off

By Steve Alexander Reporter

M50o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr “Celebrate Mobile” Parade Kicks Off

Published: Fri, June 20, 2008 - 8:55 pm

Steve Alexander

There was Mardi Gras merriment on the streets of Mobile Friday night.
The city of Mobile staged a parade to celebrate its accomplishments.
And with a big concert scheduled at the Mobile Civic Center, some people were concerned traffic would be a problem.
The theme of the parade was celebrating Mobile's economic development.
There was even a special bead created with a medallion depicting the Northrop Grumman KC-45 tanker.
Some people knew exactly why the parade was being held.
When asked why he was at the parade, Luther Harris of Mobile said, "I'm celebrating all the victory we're going to have here: the steel mill, the airplane, all that's going to make our city grow even more."
When asked if she knew the purpose of the parade, Danyelle Pettway of Mobile said, "Yes, I heard on the radio this morning."
And she added, "I'm hopeful that we do get the airplane."
When asked if she came for the parade or to celebrate Mobile, Tonya Jones of Mobile said. "Both. Yeah, both."
Singer Carrie Underwood was performing starting at 7:30 at the Mobile Civic Center, right where the parade was starting and ending.
The parade took a different route than usual, so there were no big traffic jams and there was still place to park in the Civic Center parking lot.
As a result, some people watching the parade got a two for one deal.
Brian Skelton said, "I'm going to the Carrie Underwood concert and this was going on."
Kayla Hudson of Baldwin County said she was going to the Underwood concert, too and had no parking problems because a friend "saved us a parking spot."
Ashleigh Bullock of Robertsdale said, "I didn't even know there was a parade going on tonight, so I was like kind of wondering."
Among those taking part in Friday's parade were representatives from Northrop Grumman and EADS.

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I pity you MeAmerican.

Posted by rmseek1234 on 06/25/08 - 2:44 pm • Report Abuse

A big expensive flop in the flop!

Posted by MeAmerican on 06/25/08 - 1:32 pm • Report Abuse

Wow I had no idea this was going on/happened.

Posted by KxVx on 06/25/08 - 1:27 pm • Report Abuse

I heard this was a huge, expensive flop! People in the know were begging that it be postponed just like the groundbreaking but those pleas were ignored and a blank check was written to cover all the OT required to pull this thing off.

The money spent on beads alone would have made David Thomas cringe!

Posted by BamaBob on 06/23/08 - 8:11 pm • Report Abuse

How did this turn out? Many people show up for the parade and the concert?

Posted by BamaBob on 06/21/08 - 8:46 am • Report Abuse