C.A.R.B. Clyde Ellis Race-On Car Show highlights the Snake Saturday Parade in North Kansas City

The Central Auto Racing Boosters (C.A.R.B.) Clyde Ellis Race-On Car Show has been a tradition during the Snake Saturday Parade in North Kansas City for a long as I can remember.  This event is often cold, miserable, riddled with rain and sleet, and oftentimes snow.  But somehow, they avoided all that this weekend.  The weather couldn’t have been nicer for this event , and there were some interesting things to look at both in the car show and in the parade.

Cars of the 2013 Parkville Days Parade

As residents of Parkville, our family likes to try and hit some of the local parades and festivals.  Each year, they have Parkville Days, which includes a carnival, vendor booths, and a parade down Main Street.  The parade consists mostly of area high school bands, but between the tuba playing and baton twirling you might actually see an interesting old car or two in there.  So as per usual, here’s a look at a few of the noteworthy rides that braved the heat last Saturday morning.

The cars of the 2013 Parkville Fourth of July parade

Every year on the Fourth of July, the Hovers usually partake in the pancake breakfast at the VFW hall in our hometown of Parkville, Mo., then we take in the parade that goes down Main Street.  Of course, I naturally get excited about all the churches and politicians and things that enter floats in this parade, but between you and me, the cars are what really trip my trigger.  To that end, let’s take a look at some of the more interesting things that cruised through the crowd this morning.

Ararat Shriners bring cars to the 44th Annual Parkville Days Riverfest Parade

Walking around a car show and looking at all the cars can be fun, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could just sit in one place and have the cars come to you? Well, that’s how it works when you visit the annual Parkville Days Riverfest Parade, which made its 44th trip down Main Street last Saturday morning.

Parkville Fourth of July Parade. My vote goes to the cars!

Small town Fourth of July parades.  Blech.  Basically you just sit in the heat with a bunch of other sweaty people, and watch an endless stream of politicians pass out their junk mail.  Why does anyone want to go to these?

But then, every once in awhile, something shows up that makes it worthwhile.  Usually it's some sort of Veterans' salute, or maybe a moving color guard display.  And, if you can make it through the trailers full of dance and karate students, a neat car or truck will usually appear to break up the monotony. 

Went to the Kansas City St. Patrick's Day Parade and a car show broke out

Did you know that Kansas City, Mo., hosts one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the United States? Nearly a half-million people turn out downtown to watch all the floats, marching bands, and giant balloons.

Normally, I would sit in one place, snap a photo of all the neat cars as they drove by, then present it to you in a slideshow. But this year BHo's second grade class was chosen to march in the 40th running of this Kansas City tradition, so I was on the move.

Parkville Days Riverfest Parade was just like the Woodward Dream Cruise. Sort of.

The Woodward Dream Cruise was held in Detroit this weekend. If you love cars, you could simply sit in a lawn chair, and watch all sorts of great cars and trucks parade down Woodward Avenue. You wouldn't have to lift a finger.

Now, Kansas City is obviously not Detroit, and we certainly don't have anything as epic as the annual Dream Cruise, but I did manage to sit in a lawn chair and take some pictures of neat cars as they drove by my location.

No, Parkville isn't flooded. Yes, they had their annual Fourth of July parade. Yes, there were some nice cars in it

Parkville, Mo., has been a pretty popular place lately. It seems like every day, the local news stations are doing a live remote to tell everyone how bad the Missouri is flooding. And it is a little scary. The river is out of its banks near the historic little town, and Parkville's English Landing park is indeed underwater. When you see the river like this, it gives you the sensation that you have when you're on a really high ladder. If you don't like heights. And you're me. The point is, it isn't a good feeling.

But that wasn't enough to stop the annual Fourth of July Parade, which snaked its way down Main Street just like it always does. Luckily, the heart of downtown remains unaffected by the flooding so far.

Father uses parade car pictures to disguise doting on his son during the Parkville Days Riverfest

Warning: there will be some personal, non-car-related information snuck into certain portions of this article. Reader discretion is advised.

Good little Parkville residents that we are, we dutifully attended the 42nd-Annual Parkville Days Riverfest in English Landing Park over the weekend. Parkville must be doing something right with this event, because there are so many people that ascend on the little historic downtown area that it almost makes you want to be someplace else.

For the last couple of years, our family has participated in most of the parades in town, a tradition we continued Saturday. The reason is that our son, the legendary BHo, earned his place among the entries by winning the Little Mr. Parkville pageant.