My Report from the Feel the Bern Rose Parade March!!! (pic heavy)
Last edited Sat Jan 2, 2016, 07:54 AM - Edit history (1)
Cross posted from GDP: enjoy!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251967385
(rec that OP too!!!)
Finally able to post this... I was so exhausted afterwards from not sleeping enough the last two nights and walking 7 miles and hanging with some people I met there afterwards that I came home, ate and fell asleep on the couch watch local news. Not before seeing the local ABC news cover the Berners though!!!
Just over 300 people RSVP'd to the event. We met at a park near the beginning spot of the parade. There was some prep going on, decorating the small float, practicing a song a couple guys were going to sing during the march and then a rally.
The Bernie Sanders campaign endorsed this event and sent a representative, Becky Bond, to speak at the rally. Here is a link about her: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-becky-bond_5617c573e4b0e66ad4c75d6b
It was really incredible to do this march. It made me feel so happy. What a great idea! And there was still thousands of people there since we were right behind the parade and they saw us and were mostly receptive to us. We got a ton of high fives from those right up at the street and got some shouts from people up in their houses at the beginning of the route and then from people up in bleachers later on. RVs were honking their horns and some people joined us along the way so our numbers grew!
So it was the parade, then tow trucks then a couple trucks with sheriff dept officers then us. Well there were a few religious fanatics at the very front as you'll see in a couple of the pics. I saw one of the officers taking video of us with his cell phone at one point!
Oh yeah, there were a ton of Iowans there since Iowa was playing in the Rose Bowl so I was making a point of yelling "Go Iowa!" when I passed them. One time there was a woman in full Iowa clothing who yelled out asking if someone had a button for her. Immediately several people handed her a button and some bumper stickers. And throughout the parade we had small flyers that we were handing out to people as we walked by.
I can't tell you how great it felt to have so many people yelling Bernie back to us and "Feel the Bern". I really think this is going to happen. More now than ever. The people LOVE Bernie! They lit up smiling and cheering!
And as I briefly mentioned above, the local Los Angeles ABC news covered this! It was short but sweet and they showed video. So that's cool!
So on to the pics (all take by me but I'm going to find and add one that's from high up so you can get the perspective of what people were seeing)...
I got there around 7:30am, my view upon arriving:
T-SHIRTS THEY GAVE OUT:
THE FLOAT BEING DECORATED PLUS OTHER RANDOM PICS:
TONY TIG BEING INTERVIEWED:
(he performed his Bernie song at the rally with his sister)
RALLY BEFORE HEADING OUT TO PARADE:
BECKY BOND - SANDERS CAMPAIGN REPRESENTATIVE - SPEAKING AT RALLY:
THEN WE HEADED OUT TO GET BEHIND THE END OF THE PARADE.
On our way out there were three people dressed in what appeared to be Native American or Central American attire drumming and burning sage (?) on opposite sides of the street as we walked between them to get to the parade:
NOW ON TO THE PARADE!!! 
LOOK AT THE CROWDS THAT SAW US, AND THERE WERE ABOUT A DOZEN OF BLEACHERS LIKE THIS PLUS AREAS WHERE IT WAS JUST PEOPLE ON THE SIDEWALK. IT WAS AMAZING!!!
A BERNIE SUPPORTER CHATTING UP AN OFFICER, THEY WERE SMILING AND LAUGHING WHILE TALKING:
Thanks for checking this out. If you haven't gotten involved I highly recommend it. It will make you feel so good!!!
Here's a pic I found that's the view of our group from higher up:
Found it here, where you can see even more pics and video:
https://storify.com/Robby_07/getting-started?awesm=sfy.co_c0rwH&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_campaign=&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_source=t.co
Find an event near you here:
https://secure.berniesanders.com/page/event/search_simple
We need people to phone bank for Iowa so please, sign up and do that! But definitely go to a rally! You'll meet the nicest and most positive people ever!
FEEL THE BERN!!!
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= new reply since forum marked as read
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Great Pics! Thanks for posting!
I really think there is a HUGE voting block out there that will cast for Bernie.
Just amazing the support and I was wondering if the campaign was aware of this...good to know.
Thank you so much for posting.
Go Bernie!
Go Berners!
And there were hundreds, if not thousands, of Iowans out there! If they didn't know about Bernie before at least they've heard of him now.
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I might have to make one with that on one side and "Finally, a reason to vote" on the other.
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