By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
“There’s a cow! There’s a cow!” a little boy’s voice proclaimed as he directed his hands towards the float coming down the street, and there, sure enough, was a replica of a longhorn propped upon the float.
Cheering with delight at each new sight that passed by were numerous children along the Galveston Mardi Gras parade routes Saturday outside of the downtown district.
The sky opened to reveal its beautiful blueness shortly after the daytime parade began on the Seawall.
Weather forecasts had been accurate in predicting that it would rain till noon on Saturday. Because of the relative certainty that rain would come, there was some trepidation about the conditions that would be present during the parade, and planners moved the start time from noon to 1 p.m.
The time change allowed the participants and spectators to revel in what has grown to be another magical experience for families with children to enjoy in coastal Texas.
The children near me for the Krewe of Gambrinus evening parade route on Rosenberg noticed I had no beads around my neck, and they each very generously gave me two strings of beads.
Their kind gesture was one of many I witnessed throughout the two parades.
As the evening parade ended, and people scurried across streets, the young boy who had noticed the cow and shared his beads with me saw another boy about his age with far more beads around his neck than he or his sister had collected.
Then another act of kindness occurred. The boy adorned with more beads than the siblings stopped and looked at his father, and the brother and sister each had several additional strands placed around their necks.
