Barbara Lawlor, Nederland

Nederland Community Center tables filled rapidly Saturday morning as former Nederland residents dropped in for breakfast. Plates were piled with pancakes, soaked with maple syrup, stacked next to scrambled eggs and sausage and washed down with orange juice and coffee.

This year the Nederland Area Seniors also offered different flavors of granola, yoghurt and sliced bananas. It was a feast fit for familiar former and current Ned folks.

Every now and then someone would point at another person and the two would hug as if they hadn’t seen each other for 50 years; and sometimes it was true.

Diana Glasser, a Nederland Elementary School teacher from 1964-1967, in the same building that she was eating breakfast, looked across the room and saw former third grade student Mark Smith. She sneaked up on him and gave him a big hug and got a bigger one back.

Mark grinned at her and said, “You were way nicer than Mrs. Tanner. Ray Willis and I were in trouble the minute we walked through the door of her classroom.”

It was all about the stories they can laugh about now.

Dallas Glasser and Susie Smith, Class of ‘57 said they had been pretend boyfriend and girlfriend back in high school. “Everyone had a boyfriend but me,” remembers Susie, “So I chose him to be mine.”

Dallas says Susie’s mother, Irene Smith, was his fifth and sixth grade teacher.

He remembers putting snow on the school thermometer so the heat would go up.

NAS volunteers cooked the breakfast and served it: the now seniors showing the then seniors a great start to the beautiful day.

At 11 a.m., the parade gathered on East Street. Spectators gathered at the corner of First and Snyder Street, holding umbrellas over their heads, leaning against the Stop sign, huddled in male groups discussing the vintage cars they were about to see.

Len Cole chugged up First Street in his old, looking like brand new, tractor drawing cheers from the crowd as he waved to friends he hadn’t seen for awhile. Len’s brother Gil and son Jared also drove old cars in the parade.

Dr. Fix It, Chris Perret, drove his not-so-shiny VW and parade organizer Jeanette Smith rode shotgun in a spiffed-up Jeep with her granddaughter and friends holding up paper plates announcing the class of 2016.

It was a short parade, but it went round twice.

After the vehicle display, the gang moseyed over to Chipeta Park where the potluck picnic began. The park pavilion was packed and the conversation decibel level indicated that everyone had something to say.

There were no speeches this year, no plaques for family reunions. Jeanette said she thought it was time to just let people enjoy the food and each other and reminisce about the mischief they used to get into.

And they did.