I see the Rose Festival’s Fred Meyer Junior Parade yesterday was a fun (and dry) event for both participants and spectators. Rose City Park gets a front-row seat for this event, since the parade is staged in and starts off from the neighborhood and heads down Sandy Boulevard to the Hollywood District. Lots of good coverage of the event, including video, here.
My wife and I had to work and couldn’t go, but one of the grandmas took the baby to see it. She enjoyed it all, but especially the balloon she got from a City of Portland worker (balloons being one of her current fascinations, along with rocks and dogs). I’ll try to make it next year.

blog.oregonlive.com

The city of Martinsville and the Greater Martinsville Chamber of Commerce are inviting residents to attend the Economic Summit, a facet of the city’s economic development planning efforts at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Morgan County Administration Building.
The summit will be a three-hour working session for community stakeholders to discuss and prioritize the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of Martinsville’s business climate. At the end of the meeting, the group will consider possible action issues to be addressed in the plan. While the public may attend, they will not be participating in this particular session. For more information, contact Jamie Thompson at info@martinsvillechamber.com or 765-342-8110.
Sharilee Gray, broker associate with Carpenter Realtors, has been named the manager of the Carpenter office in Martinsville. Gray has been with Carpenter Realtors since 1996 and was recently the assistant branch manager of the Mooresville office. Gray will continue assisting buyers and sellers with their real estate needs, in addition to managing the Martinsville Office. She may be reached at the Carpenter office at 400 Ind. 37N., Martinsville, by calling 765-342-8770 or 317-831-9407.
Bender Lumber Co. of Martinsville has received “Certified Green Dealer” status from the LBM Journal, a trade publication for the lumber and building materials industry. The program was developed to give an understanding of green-building basics and provide knowledge of green-building techniques and green product choices. This training allows the company to help customers make good choices for the environment and recommend earth-friendly products. The company is now capable of educating its customers about the best practices in building techniques so building projects are both energy efficient and resourceful.
Have you or a family member been diagnosed with a heart murmur? Are you unsure about what that means?
An upcoming “Ask the Doc” program, sponsored by the St. Francis Heart Center, might answer those questions on Tuesday. Cardiothoracic surgeon Marc Gerdisch, M.D., will explain why it is important to understand how heart valves may cause murmurs, and when it’s time to seek treatment.

reporter-times.com

The annual St. Stupid’s Day Parade, which pays homage to the patron saint of idiocy, has become an April Fools’ Day tradition for San Francisco geeks.
So if you didn’t get your fill of online tomfoolery for which a certain April day is named, here’s a taste of St. Stupid’s Day parade, founded in the late 1970s by Ed Holmes, aka Bishop Joey of the First Church of the Last Laugh.
Historians still argue over whether St. Stupid was killed by a falling anvil or a sharp stick in the eye. In any event, he brings out the rabble, and in costume no less.
This year’s theme was, “It’s the economy, stupid.” And appropriately, here’s a participant chasing a dollar bill.
Caption text by Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Credit: Carl-Gustav Linden/CNET News.com

news.com

PENDLETON — When Caylah McAdams heard there was a real, live, 11-pound bunny rabbit in the Easter parade in Pendleton on Saturday, her eyes opened wide, and her mouth dropped to her chest.
Stunned into silence, the 6-year-old and her cousin Tykeria Porter, 7, couldn’t believe it.
The two girls already had Easter baskets full of eggs and candy from the Easter egg hunt earlier in the day’s festivities. A live bunny would just simply be too much.
Soon enough, though, the snow-white, 11-pound Miss Jeri and her “sister” 5-pound Betty Boo came rolling through downtown Pendleton sitting on the laps of their adoring grandmother and her friend.
The two rabbits rode in a convertible at the head of the parade as the official grand marshals. The costumed “Easter Bunny” rode a few cars behind.
Missy Nail has owned Miss Jeri and Betty Boo since they were just wee things and calls herself their grandmother.
“They watch TV, they run around the house, and they’re littler-box trained,” Mrs. Nail said. “They give us kisses and hugs. They go everywhere I go.”
Three-year-old Miss Jeri, an Austrian giant rabbit, is the quiet one, laid back and calm. Two-year-old Betty Boo, a dwarf rabbit, is a hoot, Mrs. Nail said.
“She reminds me of my middle son,” Mrs. Nail said. “When I’m driving and she wants to go, and you don’t go, she’ll scratch the pillow (on which she sit). And if you don’t go again, she’ll look at you then bite — well, nip — the pillow.”
As Mrs. Nail talked, children crowded around the two bunnies, who looked extremely content being petted continuously. If a child quit petting one of the bunnies, the rabbit simply would hop over to someone else who would pay some attention.
Early Saturday afternoon in Anderson, another group of children went tearing across the grass and grabbed as many Easter eggs as possible during the Easter egg hunt at VFW Post 5996.

independentmail.com