Sebastopol's Apple Blossom Parade

[Shepherd]

I love marching in a good parade. It evokes pleasant memories of boyhood on military bases, being an integral part of that community, and then joining the Army myself. This year’s 66^th Annual Apple Blossom Parade was a real treat, especially since there were so many new groups participating.

I was invited to march with four different groups: Occupy Sebastopol, Transition Sebastopol, Spiral Food Coop, and the Sebastopol Grange. I relate to all four. Which to march with?

Fortunately, they marched close together. The Occupy contingent gathered the earliest, 8 a.m., for the parade scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Since I am up each morning before sun-up on my farm, I decided to check them out first. I ended up mainly with them.

We marched in front of the Hub Bub Band, which includes Occupy activists. They invited us to an after-parade party at Hop Monk Tavern’s new beer garden, where we continued celebrating.

Members of Occupy Santa Rosa (OSR) and Occupy Petaluma joined us. OSR, according to the New York Times, had the sixth largest opening in the U.S. on Oct. 15 with a rally of some 3,500 people.

Our contingent was a family affair with 35 participants, ranging from toddlers to an 89-year-old. We had fun and were well received.

We wore signs of “good apples,” such as local businesses, and “bad apples,” such as the giant Monsanto Corporation that spreads industrial agriculture.

When signs made by the Downtown Association began appearing in merchant windows reading “Occupy Wall Street by Buying Local,” we felt that our central message was being understood by many.

Clusters of applause from viewers greeted us as we marched. When we passed the first stand the person on the microphone read our submitted material.

One blemish was when a man at the second stand distorted our message and ridiculed, mocked, and insulted Occupy, rather than read what we wrote about ourselves. He alleged that we were trying to take over Sebastopol, which is certainly not our goal. Only when he was confronted from the street did he back down and begin acting gentlemanly.

Nostalgia for the good old days can be comforting. But with so many people being foreclosed on and evicted from their homes, loosing their jobs, and going into deep debt for college educations, those days are over. It is time to shout out against the growing inequality of wealth between the 99% and the 1%.

Occupy’s chants included “Banks Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out.” And we echoed the Downtown Association—“Occupy Wall Street, Buy Local Now.”

Occupy Sebastopol opposes CVS and Chase Bank invading our downtown. They are major corporations already present in Sebastopol, who would like to further centralize power here. That would mean more money leaving our community, rather than circulating here. We support local banks and credit unions. We already have enough big banks downtown and two pharmacies.
CVS and Chase do not exemplify “Go Local.” They exemplify Wall Street and drain our limited funds away.

After the parade we received the following personal appreciative email from one of those on the reviewing stand: “Thank you for your energy, commitment and beauty!”

We do not expect everyone to agree with how we view direct democracy. We do feel that Occupy Sebastopol is an integral part of our small town. We plan to stay here and exercise our rights of free speech and assembly, as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

When commissioned a military officer I swore an oath to defend my country and its Constitution from external and internal threats. I keep that pledge, which is part of why I am in Occupy.

Occupy Sebastopol’s next events include marching in Petaluma’s annual Butter and Eggs Parade April 28, where they plan to have a twelve foot chicken, which may be retired to my farm. On May 1 we will participate in a Labor Day action with OSR and Latino groups in Santa Rosa.