{"id":24119,"date":"2019-06-28T11:54:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24119"},"modified":"2019-06-28T11:54:56","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:54:56","slug":"time-travellers-diary-a-great-time-to-be-a-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/time-travellers-diary-a-great-time-to-be-a-kid\/","title":{"rendered":"TIME TRAVELLER’S DIARY: A great time to be a kid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Marilyn Merrikin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Time Traveller <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was July 1, a widely anticipated day by children and\nadults alike in our little Town of Aurora; We were Canada\u2019s birthday town and\nit was parade day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My best friend Kelly and I were (not so patiently)\nwaiting with our Aurora Girl Guides group, along with about 30 other children\nbrimming with excitement and eagerness to take part in the annual Kids Costume\n& Bike Parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would assemble at the old Canadian Tire, or some years\nat Town Park, for the judging of our bikes and costumes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did not matter who won as all the ribbons and buttons\nwere the same, and besides we were far more excited for the real prize \u2013 a\ncomplimentary bag of popcorn and candy at the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would line up behind the Town Crier and Sparky the\nPolice Car. Who could forget that? Followed by the big red roaring fire trucks.\nFor all us kids in the 70s, it was our small moment in the spotlight together,\na celebration of laughter and being a part of our close-knit community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the parade started, you could see the crowds who lined\nthe streets grow larger, and the vendors with their overinflated balloons and\ncotton candy start to buzz. The cheers and excitement grew louder as the flags\nstrolled by, held high by the men and women of the Aurora Legion Branch 385.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yonge Street was filled with marching bands, clowns,\nmascots, decorated fancy floats and parents wildly snapping pictures of\nanything in sight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children began creeping closer to the edge of the curb,\nwaving madly at passing floats in hope of snatching just a little more candy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a great time to be a kid, the next best thing to\nthe last day of school \u2013 this is when summer really began for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parades have always been an important way of making communal\nbonds stronger and more visible, as it gives the Town a sense of pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will forever be grateful for the wonderful memories\nthat came with growing up in this once small town, which I have been lucky\nenough to share with my own children as they took part in the Canada 150,\nAurora Kids Costume & Bike Parade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora, from one family to another, Happy Canada Day.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Marilyn Merrikin Community Time Traveller It was July 1, a widely anticipated day by children and adults alike in our little Town of Aurora; We were Canada\u2019s birthday town and it was parade day! My best friend Kelly and I were (not so patiently) waiting with our Aurora Girl Guides group, along with about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6h1","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 01:07:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}