LOWER LAKE >> It began as usual, with about a half-dozen fire trucks slowly making their way down Main Street with lights flashing and sirens wailing.
But Sunday’s Lower Lake Daze Parade and Pet Parade came less than a year after the brutal Clayton Fire that destroyed several hundred houses and downtown businesses in Lower Lake.
So for some of the onlookers, the lights and sirens were a reminder of the inferno.
Another reminder: most of the firefighters in the parade — including many from the Lower Lake fire station — were on the front lines battling last year’s wildfire.
Yet other markers of the fire were the vacant lots on the parade route where many onlookers stood or sat in lawn chairs they brought. At last year’s parade, businesses stood on those lots.
This year, 2,500 people turned out for the annual Lower Lake Daze parade and festival, down slightly from the past few years.
The smoke and flames are long gone but the pall of last year’s Clayton Fire was still in the air for many at the parade. It’s difficult to judge but the general mood of the parade watchers seemed a bit more subdued than in previous years.
That is until the last act in the parade — firefighters from the Lake County Fire Protection District dressed in red one-piece long johns — brought most of the crowd to life, especially the youngsters.
The firefighters thrilled the crowd with their Keystone Kops-like antics that included spraying the crowd with their fire hoses and drenching people — usually kids — with buckets of cold water.
They also performed comedy skits at several points along the route, routines that always started and ended with much water and everyone, including onlookers, getting wet or better yet, soaked.
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One of the firemen taking part in the comedic display, Kyle Shields, 31, was born and raised in Clearlake. He started as a volunteer when he was 18 and a year later was hired as a full-time firefighter.
“I’ve been in the parade every year,” he said Sunday, standing outside the Lower Lake fire station. “I enjoy doing it and it’s good for the community. And the parade wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t do our skit.”
He said he thought there was a high turnout of youngsters at this year’s parade.
“I think the kids like to see firemen out of uniform, being goofy and having fun,” he added.
Many of the young parade regulars are on to the firefighters’ shenanigans and now come prepared for battle, peppering the underdressed firefighters with water balloons and blasting them with super-soaker water guns.
Several epic battles ensued along the parade route and usually ended with the young “snipers” retreating in the face of the firefighters’ bigger weapons: fire hoses.
The two fire vehicles the firefighters use in the skits are a 1923 REO fire engine and a 1929 Model A water tender — dubbed the Funny Wagon — fabricated in Lower Lake, according to Shields.
Besides the fire brigade that included CalFire units, the parade featured a variety of entries, including a mounted horse contingent, an array of antique cars and trucks, a color guard, the Lower Lake High School Trojan band and a mariachi group.
This year’s pet parade contingent, part of the main event, was one man and his dog.
Rose Rice of Clearlake used to walk her pup in the parade but she said that at 13 years old, it was getting to be too much for him. This year, Rice, who moved here from the Bay Area, watched the parade while sitting on the sidewalk.
“I came from a big town and this parade shows that you don’t have to have a lot of exotic things to have fun,” she said above the sirens of passing fire engines.
She added, “I enjoy seeing the parade but I miss being in it. But it’s a fun event and it gives me great joy and pleasure being here.”
Liberty, of Clearlake, said it was her first time at the parade.
“I just wanted to get out of the house and do something fun,” she said. “So I’m here having a good time with my parents.”
Not everyone was happy with the parade, though. One man, who did not want his name used, said he lives in Clearlake Riviera and owned a business in downtown Lower Lake before it burned down in the fire.
“It was horrible,” he said of the parade. “This town has been traumatized by fire so starting the parade with fire trucks and sirens had people crying.”
He said it was inappropriate to place the color guard, carrying the American flag, in the middle of the parade.
“The color guard was behind the hot rods and fire trucks and the Walmart truck,” he said. “They should have led off the parade.”
The man, a veteran, said, “The parade is supposed to honor our fallen soldiers.”
He added, “But I love Lower Lake and the people here.”
The parade’s Grand Marshall, Susie “Q” Novak, is a winner of a Stars of Lake County award. She is also a producer for KPFZ community radio.
Novak, a community activist, helped coordinate relief efforts in the aftermath of the Clayton inferno.
She rode in the parade in an antique convertible.
The parade was followed by a festival at nearby Russell Rustici County Park that featured music by the Tattooed Cherries along with a barbecue and a variety of vendor booths.
