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While the Freedom Festival Parade experienced a day's Yankee-Doodle-Dan-Delay due to Independence Day falling upon a Sunday, more than 20,000 celebrants still lined the streets Monday morning to watch more than 200 entrants pass by.
Some came to dance. Linton's Rhonda Tharp and Sandra Benthimer joined their sister Judy Chalfort, who traveled all the way from Deal Island, Md., in boogying under a tent in Tharp's yard to "YMCA" as the music boomed from Ugly Knees Karaoke's passing float.
"It's a tradition," Chalfort said. "I never miss a parade."
Politicians came to campaign, passing out literature and trying to beat the heat.
"It's hot, but there's a breeze," said Teressa Smith, walking the route with Greene County Clerk candidate Jackie Winstead.
For a day, political opponents marched the streets together. State Rep. Bruce Borders (R-Jasonville) donned his Elvis gear, tossing out teddy bears and posing for photos with Anna Villain and Carol Roush along the way.
Sadly, Roush realized afterwards her camera didn't capture the photo.
"They were moving too fast," she said.
Meanwhile, Borders' challenger, Democrat Jesse James was shaking hands down Main Street, smiling as his volunteers handed out campaign flyers.
"It's beautiful weather," James said. "The Linton Freedom Fest really shows the heart and soul of a small town in southern Indiana, and I'm proud to be a part of it."
Song filled the air, a constant along with the cheering and applause.
With a ring-ping-ping of a slew of steel drums chiming in, White River Valley Jamming brought their music to the parade route for the first time this year. While the steel drum band's been around since 2000, music teacher Virgil Franklin chose this year to bring his junior high squad to the streets.
They performed a heady brew of musical selections, ranging from "Tequila" and "Red, Red Wine" to a renamed Lynyrd Skynyrd warhorse.
"We're doing 'Sweet Home Alabama,' but we renamed it. We call it 'Sweet Home Indiana' instead," said WRV eighth grader Clay Smith.
Further down Main Street, Bloomfield's Marching Cardinals temporarily traded in their usual crimson-and-cream color scheme for blue shirts as a tribute to the blockbuster film "Avatar."
Meanwhile, WRV band director Candy Johnson welcomed back an element of her marching Wolverines that's been missing for a few years.
"We've got the pom-pom girls back," she said. "It's good to have the cheerleaders marching in front of us. We haven't had that for a few years."
Down the road slightly, a true heroine of World War II, one of the women who served as "Rosie the Riveter," assembling live explosive ammunition for the military, received thanks from NSA Crane Commander Chuck Lasota.
"M*A*S*H" proved a smash for Richard Brown Insurance, winning the "Mayor's Choice" prize with a float patterned after the long-running CBS-TV show and the film which preceded it.
Marchers dressed in Army fatigues brandishing stethoscopes and treating a patient, emulating Hawkeye Pierce, Hot Lips Houlihan and Corp. Klinger convincingly.
"What got us interested was the ambulance," said Rhea Vest, noting the vintage Korean War transport which pulled the float. "It belongs to my brother-in-law."
Nearby, "Honest Abe's" nickname stood for Abbie, not Abraham, as little Abbie Shaw, 8, donned a fake beard and top hat to essay Abraham Lincoln, standing next to her friend Tarrin Felker, 11, dressed as the Statue of Liberty on a float from Midland's Lebanon Baptist Church.
Shaw liked the top hat best, finding the beard a bit warm as temps climbed into the 90s by midday.
Her costume, however, had nothing on Sunny the Super Saver, MainSource's mascot. Who was that masked man, hidden behind the spiky-haired superhero's foam rubber disguise? Linton branch manager Jessica Soncrant knows.
"It's my husband Rob," she said, laughing. "I owe him big."
Nodding his head, "Sunny" agreed.
"I'll be washing and waxing the cars over this for a while," Jessica Soncrant added.