The “Storm” came on like gangbusters the evening of Sept. 25 when Sauk Rapids-Rice High School held its homecoming parade.
You’d think the circus was in town. There was a riot of colors (mainly the Storm signature colors green and gold) among parade participants and spectators who lined the street from the area near Bob Cross Park to the city’s middle school.
A mood of festivity ruled as young people and even some parents displayed themselves in get-ups that ranged from green tights, green elf shoes, green-colored hair, a jester outfit, gold and green ballet tutus, huge green hats, green-and-gold Mardi Gras beads, T-shirts that proclaimed “Smash The (Sartell) Sabres” and the new SRR walking mascot, dubbed “Bolt!”
Among the parade units were members of the marching band, the cross-country team members and friends who ran in circles all down the parade route, a few trailer floats, a Rice Elementary School unit, a pom-pom group of girls and young children holding up a series of letters spelling P – A – T – H, standing for the schools’ mission of being Prepared, Accepting, Trustworthy and Helpful.
The parade, which lasted only 15 minutes, more than made up for its short duration by lots of hoopla, celebratory noise and wild colors.
Dalman was born and raised in South St. Cloud, graduated from St. Cloud Tech High School, then graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in English (emphasis on American and British literature) and mass communications (emphasis on print journalism). He studied in London, England for a year (1980-81) where he concentrated on British literature, political science, the history of Great Britain and wrote a book-length study of the British writer V.S. Naipaul. Dalman has been a reporter and weekly columnist for more than 30 years and worked for 16 of those years for the Alexandria Echo Press.