Happy industrial park day!

Posted at 3:15 PM on July 7, 2012 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

The big doings today are in Lakeville, which is holding its annual Pan-O-Prog celebration. The event, a local told me, started as a celebration years ago of the opening of the city's industrial park south of the main drag.

Pan-O-Prog stands for Panorama of Progress, and nothing says progress like a Main Street full of 1950s-era hot rods and a B-25 bomber at the airport giving rides.

From what we can tell by the crowd on the sidewalks, the Pan-O-Prog parade is quite a big deal. There aren't actually people lined up, just an interesting assortment of chairs and contraptions which say "this space is mine."

I doubt this is a uniquely Minnesota thing, though I admit this staking out of turf hours in advance seems to be taken to new heights here.

The duct-taping-of-the blanket is an interesting way to do it...

Congratulations on your progress, Lakeville!

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Comments (3)

Staking out the site is definitely not just a Minnesota thing. I'm working out in Salt Lake City right now and I saw whole sections of the main street in the towns around here staked out like the one in your pictures. In fact, they are currently discussing the ordinance that regulates how early you can stake out a spot: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54436592-78/parade-candy-council-hours.html.csp

And I thought the competition was fierce when I marched in the band during parades.

Posted by Matt W | July 7, 2012 8:27 PM

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Apple Valley Minnesota DOES have an ordinance for their July 4th parade: "Spectators are reminded that they are not allowed to place their belongings on sidewalks, streets, adjacent properties and boulevards until 24 hours before the start of the parade.

This is a city ordinance that will be enforced."

http://www.shepardservices.com/AVFREEDOMDAYS/

Posted by Moira | July 8, 2012 9:12 AM

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People can be awfully protective of the streets they live on sometimes. During my different pavement imaging runs around the country, I've been angrily accosted by people quite a few times. Out in Hawaii I even had someone throw a basketball at our van.

Although I can kinda sympathize with the guy blocking off the parking . . . not enough to condone it, mind you, but I've felt that way myself about a street before. When I used to live in a apartment off of Virginia street in St. Paul and had to park on the street I thought about blocking off a spot. Three or four instances of coming home after 14 hours at work on a Friday night to find that the bar crowd had taken every spot within 7 blocks of my place can impact your tolerance of your fellow man a bit.

Posted by Matt W | July 8, 2012 5:03 PM

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