Dragon Day Parade at Cornell

Last week we attended a Dragon Day parade on campus. I wasn't too sure what the history of the parade was but I have kids and kids like parades so I was there. Turns out it is a very old tradition dating back over a hundred years. Each year around St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of spring break the first year architecture students build a giant dragon, dress up in crazy costumes, and march up to the Arts quad while being heckled by their rivals - the engineering students. The weather was menacing and the kids were getting tired so we missed watching the phoenix that the engineering students built battle it out with the architecture school dragon. I was really looking forward to that because - well - obviously I've never seen anything like that before outside of Harry Potter (and come to think of it Fawkes wasn't much of a fighter so scratch that I have never seen a phoenix battle a dragon).

We watched the large crowds gather, the dragon lumber off, and followed him to the quad before the kids got hungry. Preston had a great time. Cameron looked at us like we were nuts (um, mom there's a smoke breathing dragon across the street) but maintained her composure for most of the parade. I'm glad we were able to attend. Our time here is so brief. If you subtract our time in Indiana and London we only have six months left in Ithaca. Scary how time flies.