[ WP ] The Town Parade Committee has grown far too powerful . It 's up to you to stop them .

No one remembers exactly how the thing got so big. Of course, I'm talking about the 4th of July Parade. It started out just like you'd expect, an hour of floats, men in silly hats driving tiny cars, local businesses throwing candy, that sort of thing. There were speeches from the local politicians, picnics, you know. Being a small town, everyone had a good time. 
 
 But somehow it got bigger. Longer. More floats. More trucks for businesses ( some with strange names that no one had ever heard of, ) their beds full of the King and Queen of every concept imaginable. More clowns, more funny cars, and worst of all - more Parade Officials. 
 
 The first year it happened, the Parade went on for hours. The Officials knocked on doors, suggesting that everyone should come watch. Most did. Some did n't. A few never showed up again. But the Parade was over, we all went home and went about our business until the next year. 
 
 This year, the Parade Officials did n't suggest. You came to the Parade. You watched. It drug on for hours. Then days. If you did n't come and watch the Parade, you became part of it, some King or Queen in a cage in the back of a strangely designed truck not made by any auto company we had ever heard of. We never heard from those people again... 
 
 The town came to a halt during the Parade. Things just stopped. Things broke. The mess left behind was often compounded by the candy thrown at the crowd. No one knew where the stuff came from, so it all went to the local dump. The town fell apart during that week. The Officials had gone from simple door-knocking neighbors to uniformed guards with guns, dragging people off to join the crowd. Watch the Parade. 
 
 The town fathers despaired. How do we stop it? No one knew. Except me. You see, even though the Parade had become this massive beast, the organizers still dutifully filed their permit each year. As the person that was elected to approve permits this year, I simply stamped it `` Denied.'' 
 
 I found out where the people in cages went. You do n't want to know, trust me. But the town was never bothered by the Parade again.
