Last night Propeller appeared in the Coon Rapids 4th of July Celebration parade…at least for about a third of it… Without any warning a crazy storm appeared sending the parade into chaos.
The night had been warm (nearly 100 degrees) but then it cooled off a bit. A large dark cloud appeared and the wind picked up…possibly reaching speeds of 70 mph knocking down trees, blowing up sand, papers, etc. Suddenly, people were running in a mad scramble for cover but with no where to go. We quickly dismantled the airplane and banner on our float as all 9 kids and 6 adults piled into our mini-van. There were plenty of police along the route but they really didn’t know what to do in the moment.
Our Propeller slogan “Adventure in Learning” certainly applied in this bonding moment for us all. We’re so thankful that no one was hurt.
There are a few photos below before the craziness, but the cable TV station got a little bit of video (and this was not the worst of the storm).
The rest of the parade was cancelled as were evening fireworks in Coon Rapids. The storm was mentioned on KARE11 TV.
So what did we learn? We need to be prepared for anything. Fortunately, we had packed the van in a way that allowed us to all get in quickly. The parents stayed calm and moved the kids to safety quickly. Thanks to God for protecting us all.
