Article posted Tuesday, June 25, 2013 2:50pm

Dear Mary Pat,

I am already anxious about attending this year’s Fourth of July parades. My husband and I always put out our chairs hours before. Last year, we sat for two hours in a great, shady spot. When the parade was about to begin a family came along with lawn chairs, coolers, and crabby children. They set up the four children’s miniature lawn chairs right in front of my husband and I! The adults sat right behind us. We were sandwiched in this dysfunctional family’s ruckus and could hardly enjoy the parade.

Isn’t that rude parade etiquette? How should I handle it should it happen again this year?

Parade Blues

Egg Harbor, WI

Dear Parade Blues,

There is no reason for anxiety, since there is no point in worrying. What are the odds that this will happen again? And even if it does, there isn’t much you can do about it. Parades are obviously open to the public and as you probably know, Joe Public can be great, a total nightmare or anywhere in between.

I guess you’ll just have to ask yourself which is a better spot – the edge of the sidewalk where no one can sit in front of you (with more exposure to the sun) or a few rows back where someone might block your view (with more shade). It is true that they weren’t considerate, but I don’t think there was anything you could have done…apart from moving yourselves down the route.

Good luck,

Mary Pat