Childhood memories..... yeah.....
Good ones? There was a band parade every summer on the third Saturday in May down Main Street. It started at 1:00 PM. We'd watch the Legion colour party and the first band come down the hill about five blocks away, then as they got closer, hear the wonderful old-style big band marching music. This was not your average parade. It was part of a week-long international band festival. The last band went by the grandstand about 4:30 PM. There were well over 100 bands, all types, all sizes. Pipe bands, drum and bugle corps, military and cadet bands, high school bands. Fancy uniforms. Wonderful music. Shriners Club clowns. Cotton candy. Candied apples. All afternoon long. I still get goosebumps when I hear Scotland the Brave on the pipes and drums. The festival folded in the mid-90's. The parades I'm talking about happened in the late '60's. It was only one day a year, but it was pure magic.
The fair was fun too. Also, there was an air force base near town, and an air show almost every summer.
Bad ones? If a social worker from the '90's had visited my family home in 1962, all five children would have been placed in foster care and both parents would have been charged with physical and emotional abuse. 'Nuff said.