Berry Craig and I covered the Inauguration Parade and the Swearing-In Ceremony, and took many pictures throughout the day. Here are our pictures from the parade. We’ll have a separate post with pictures from the ceremony.
As the parade got organized, the various unions in the parade stood for a group photo. Labor was well-represented in the parade.
(clockwise) The parade was led by this antique police car. If you look closely, you can see it says “Sheriff of Mayberry” on the door. (2) The honor guard was next. (3) Teachers were one of the featured groups in the parade. Here they come with their red scarves.
The Beshear and Coleman families, in these beautiful horse-drawn carriages.
Lots of people came out for the parade. Thankfully, it was not nearly as cold as four years ago, but it was still chilly, and people needed to bundle up – including the media.
(clockwise) (1) The Kentucky National Guard had a large presence in the parade, both with the number of vehicles in the parade and the size of some of the vehicles. I have no idea what this vehicle is, but it was huge. (And had trouble making the turn in front of the reviewing stand). (2) There were some floats celebrating the resilience and rebuilding after the natural disasters. This one is from Dawson Springs, heavily hit in the tornadoes. (3) Many union groups marched in the parade. Here is a banner celebrating all the groups that took part in this year’s AFL-CIO biennial convention. (4) Teamsters Local 89 was there. (5) And so was CWA.
There were, of course, many bands in the parade. One of the first was from Mayfield High School. The Kentucky State Band fired up the crowd as only they can. And the Western Kentucky band was large and produced a solid sound.
There were parade entries celebrating all the economic investment in the state during Beshear’s first term.
Some of the divisions of state government had their own entries in the parade. The Forestry folks brought along Smoky the Bear, while the state parks celebrated being the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.
The other newly-elected (or reelected) state officials were also in the parade. On the left is Secretary of State Michael Adams, back for a second term, with his wife Christina. On the right is AG-elect Russell Coleman, with his wife Ashley. (The other constitutional officers were also in the parade, but I did not get good photos of them.)
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