Wind whipping planes overhead and signs down below put a Hood River hallmark on last weekend’s successful July 4 events.
    Pilots from Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum contended with gusts as they flew over the parade on Sunday.

On the ground, Roger Phillips’ poster board repeatedly whipped him in the face. Phillips walked with sandwich board sign and bullhorn ahead of the parade, announcing the sale of bottled water in support of the West Side Fire Department’s Leo Phillips Scholarship fund. Roger, son of the late West Side Fire stalwart, did as most Hood Riverites do and ignored the wind as he went along his way.

High afternoon winds made set-up challenging for the Eyeopener Lions, but by dark conditions were just right for the fireworks display, and the Pyro Crew put on yet another long and spectacular show, with a rousing finish. (It is never too late to donate to the fireworks fund, at least for 2011; tax-deducible donations can be made to Lions Fireworks, 1767 12th St., No. 136, Hood River, OR 97031.)

The bowl-like environs of Jackson Park protected the Independence Day revelers from the wind as they enjoyed the Hood River Fire Department’s barbecue and the excellent music by White Salmon Jazz Band, whose warm-up act was the Pendleton Mounted Band.

The Mounted Band had earlier delighted the parade crowd with its horseback musical exhibition.

The entertaining parade, long-awaited with its delayed Sunday start time, proceeded smoothly with numerous displays both serious and humorous; participants enthusiastically embraced the “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave” theme.

Parade organizers had made direct appeals to parade participants to employ some form of red-white-blue adornment in the spirit of the patriotic theme.

The other plea that went almost-universally heeded was perhaps tougher on some folks: the no-candy rule.

Not everyone agrees with the new rule against candy; granted, it removes an element of fun that many families had gotten used to.

Yet the enjoyment of the spectacle more than replaces the near-lack of free candy.

It was a tough call to ban the candy but it was the right decision by the parade organizers.

Further, parade participants deserve credit for showing respect for the ban on candy-throwing.

(Tossing it from parade vehicles, or handing it out, has its hazards, as seen Sunday in Molalla. Our best wishes go out to Nick Bogart, who is recovering from injuries in the July 4 parade in Molalla. The 11-year-old was run over by a float while he was trying to refill a container of candy, according to the Molalla Pioneer website.)

The main reasons for the Hood River ban were safety, litter prevention and removal of the distraction; and all three need to be considered together.

As with any new rule, it would have been surprising if there had been no cases of flying candy. The way it happened, almost no riders threw candy, and only a handful distributed objects at all. Some candy, stickers and bottled water were the exceptions.

Some folks shot water from parade vehicles, which certainly added to the fun, though the weather was mainly windy, not hot.

Meanwhile, local fire officials reported a quiet weekend, with few fireworks-related problems.

Here’s hoping that such a pattern continues, with plenty of airborne water coming from squirt guns and not fire hoses.