What a great day for a parade. The Wharton Depot restoration celebration parade that is.
A special thanks to Stewart Morris and everyone involved in the restoration of the beautiful city of Wharton, TX for inviting us to participate in their parade. Several members of H.A.C.A. (the Houston Area Carriage Association) showed up with their horses and carriages to celebrate the restoration of the old train depot. Many were dressed in the style of the early 1900s. Several of the carriages were either restored vehicles from that era or were reproductions of older vehicles. Several Wharton residents were around both during the depots early days in 1914 and today for the parade as well. Four of them rode along with Stewart Morris on a beautiful Wagonette built by Kunhle Carriage of Germany, pulled by a pair of Dutch Warmbloods. One of the gentlemen that I spoke to, will celebrate his 101st birthday on the 8th of June. Sandy and Lew Smith came along with one of their Fresions, Apolo pulling a reproduction of a classic Spyder Phaeton. Terry Arnold rode along as their groom. Terry was also a real champ for helping to organize the carriage portion of the event. Catherine Cook came from Brenham with her 20 yr old Arabian, Banjo who pulled a Sears & Roebuck wagon from the early 1900s. Her vehicle was originally equipped with 2 seats that were removable. This allowed you to carry 4 people or 1 - 2 folks with their supplies or goods. It was a very early SUV. Dennis and Nancy Ginn also came from Brenham with an antique Trap built by the French Carriage Co. of Boston, Mass around 1910. Their Pinto, National Show Horse BWF Tootsie pulled it carrying the two of them plus their friends, Scott Dillard and Mary Beth Mosley of Houston. Tootsie is the Pinto Horse Association of America - Open Combined Driving Horse of the Year for 2005. Tom and Jan Smith came out with a pair of their horses pulling a Bird in Hand reproduction vehicle and Beth Fisher brought her gelding Darius and her modern Marathon vehicle. It was a beautiful day and all 6 of the turnouts looked wonderful. Thanks to everyone that made this possible.