They were my favorite part of parades when I was a kid.

I became bored with them as a teenager, preferring to watch marching bands (besides, hardly any floats give out candy to anyone past age 11).

And on Friday, I was part of one, riding on the Austin Daily Herald float.

Not the most glamorous assignment, that's for sure.

My co-workers and I spent about a month planning and making the float for the Heart of America Festival parade.

Since children was the theme of the parade, we decided on a classroom theme, highlighting that we provide newspapers for area school.

After some reluctance, I agreed to be the teacher in this mock classroom.

By 11 a.m. Friday, I almost wished I was back in my bed, peacefully sleeping.

Or at least someplace dry.

Although it was sunny when I arrived at the fairgrounds, where the floats lined up, it was cloudy by 10 a.m. and raining by 10:45 a.m.

I, luckily, had brought an umbrella, but no jacket. I hadn't expected it cool off so quickly.

The combination of wind and water was destroying parts of our float. The balloons we had spent so much time blowing up, became intertwined by their strings and were impossible to untangle.

The children in our float became cranky -- fast. It all started when one of the children, a carrier with us, saw the float pull up to the curb and said, "This float sucks!"

I just looked at him. What can you say? While we knew how much work we had put into it, it certainly wasn't as impressive as the Welcome Center's ship or Cash Wise Foods' gigantic shopping cart.

But as the rain continued to soak our float and props, the kid couldn't resist bashing it again. We commented that the rain was ruining our hard work.

"It took hard work to make this?" he asked in disbelief.

By the time we got to the beginning of the parade it was noon. I was now huddled in Dee Quam's windbreaker with a wet head and wet feet. Glitter flaked off the papier-mache apple on my "desk" and stuck to my right arm. And it wouldn't come off.

I was hungry, cold and wishing I hadn't volunteered to be in this parade.

But then our float turned the corner. I had expected to see a sparse crowd because of the rain.

Instead, people were standing three-deep or more along the entire parade route. People had come prepared with their rain coats and umbrellas. They were smiling.

Halfway through the parade, the sun came out and I dried off (although I was rubbing glitter off my arm for the rest of the day).

I waved to the jovial crowd and shouted hello to familiar faces along the route. Some people even clapped as our float passed by.

It still wasn't all fun and games. The kids were still cranky. Two guys standing near a house shouted "The Herald sucks!" and threw something, perhaps a small stone, at our float.

That was disappointing. No matter how much you dislike a business, don't throw things at children.

But overall, I came away feeling that this parade really brings the community together. Austinites are proud of their Independence Day celebration and I was happy to be a part of it.

Though, next year, can we somehow guarantee it won't rain?

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at :mailto:cari.quam@austindailyhearld.com