 | | | Photo Jeff Heyman | | | | | | Hundreds of cheering supporters of the Acalanes High School Class of 2023, many with air horns, balloons and colorful signs, lined Mt. Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette on May 19 as a car parade of graduates slowly made its way through the city's downtown.
Dozens of elaborately decorated vehicles participated in the hour-long parade, which ran from 5 to 6 p.m., and has become a new annual tradition in Lafayette. Making their way behind a Lafayette Police and Con Fire firetruck escort, proud moms, dads and grads, some standing and waving to the exuberant crowd through car sunroofs, drove slowly up and down the boulevard.
One particularly lively crowd of onlookers could be found in front of the Roundup Saloon, the watering hole that is often Lafayette's unofficial community center. There, generations of relatives and friends of all ages whooped, screamed, waved streamers, balloons and signs and let off ear-splitting air horns as each car full of graduates passed. There could be found in the crowd a range of cowbells to add to the joyous cacophony.
In return, the vehicles, many displaying the names of the grad and the university that they will attend in the fall, honked their horns as the beaming grads whooped and screamed back at the crowd, letting off their own air horns. All in all, it was a very festive, very noisy celebration along Lafayette's main thoroughfare in honor of Acalanes's Class of 2023. (See the list of graduates from Acalanes, Miramonte and Campolindo on Pages A9 and A10.) |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA