But a parade doesn’t organize itself. There are volunteers who sell ads for the commemorative program or hand out water bottles at the rec center or decide the order in which the parade entries will march down the route. In Bunning, that last job falls to Patsy Whelk. Six miles north of the circle in the square is a small apartment building with four units, one of which is an airy studio rented by Patsy. You might notice the skylight first. Or Patsy’s bright orange couch. Or maybe even the framed posters that lean against one another in the foyer, making it difficult for you to actually enter the studio. But once you had made it inside, you could not help but notice the sticky notes that snake along the circumference of Patsy’s studio walls. There are eighty-six of them, exactly as many entries as are in this year’s Bunning Day Parade. There are blue stickies for the musical acts, and pink ones for the floats. There are purple stickies for each of the town dignitaries, and yellow for the entries that need to be followed by a “pooper patrol.”
