Marchers in 2009 Pregón Parade

The stars of the 2009 Pregón Parade were definitely the kids. Their costumes were fantastic, and they were extremely well rehearsed. I'll comment on that at the end of the post. Look especially at the coordination of movement between the marchers in the first four photos here. This was not one of those deals where the teacher throws something together at the last minute, dresses the kids up and tells them to try to stick together. This was professional.

Stilt-walking is a big deal in Ecuador. In most parades you will see at least a few people walking on stilts. I don't know why that is. There were plenty of people walking on stilts in this parade. I liked this picture the best.

This girl was jumping around a lot. I captured her with her feet off the ground in this picture.

A teacher or a concerned mom.

The parade was professionally done, and it gave me the impression of being sort of an apprentice parade for the main Festival of Fruits and Flowers parade that came later in the week. That's because the students in the main Festival of Fruits and Flowers parade were high school and college-aged, just as they are in the Tournament of Roses parade in the United States, and also very professional, and what better way to prepare them for that experience than to have them march repeated times in this Pregón Parade during their grade school and middle school years? So even if it is not an apprentice parade by design (I don't think it is), it serves that purpose.

People in Ambato take their fiestas and their parades seriously.

In this Pregón Parade there were more than a few stage moms and what looked to be some friendly competition between teachers and coaches of the different groups. Were the kids stressed out? Flor says that it is fun for the kids, and since she went to school in Ambato, I'll have to defer to her. There were a few long faces here and there, but most of the kids appeared to be enjoying all of the attention they were getting after having put so much work into preparation. It was hot too, so I bet some of the kids were just plain tired wearing all of that clothing and dancing in the sun.