Last evening I was covering a local parade during our town's annual festival. There were a couple of entries who had a good message, but their messenger's didn't quite have the impact I think they were hoping for.

The first group was the abstinence group. Good message in my book, but the messengers were all overweight and plain looking girls with a few proud moms acting as sponsors. Honestly, I didn't think these girls had to worry about protecting their chasity, however, the cool breeze and cold rain had them sending a different signal. ;) ;) Missing from the group: Fathers, guys and hotties.

The second group was the harmony group. They were promoting diversity, acceptance, tolerance and all that good stuff. Again, a good message, however the messengers were another group of white teenaged girls. Since they were the last entry in the parade, I almost felt like they were a group of friends who came up with the idea the night before. Missing from the group: Anyone of color or the opposite gender, basically no diversity at all.

So while I appreciate their intentions, it seemed to me that their respective messages were lost in their presentations. Funny on the one hand, but disappointing on the other. Hopefully they'll see the disconnect and make the proper adjustments.

Do you have any similar stories?

Did the 'Conservative Group' have a bunch of rich, white fathers trying to horde and steal the candy being thrown to spectators?

Did the 'Christian Group' have a bunch of self-righteous folk telling everyone else that theirs was the only correct float? That all of the other floats were wrong and all of the other groups would go to hell?

Sorry, couldn't resist.