The Pensacola Southern Pride Ride and Flag Rally

Heritage supporters in Pensacola had been planning a flag rally for Lee Square, and invited me to join their FB group. At the time, I was greatly impressed with all the rolling rallies, rides and runs around the South, and wondered if we might duplicate that, on a small scale in Pensacola.

Staging the run at the old Food World.

On July 14th, I made a post to the group to see if there might be interest in a local run, and people liked the idea, especially holding it in conjunction with the rally, planned for Sunday, July 19. We could make the run/rally do double duty by collecting nonperishable food items for a local food pantry.

Little brown Blazer getting ready to lead the pack

Getting ready to rumble! These guys can be loud! (Photo from video by S. Tedder.)

So the next five days were a whirlwind of planning and low-key publicizing (to hopefully avoid the attention of folks who might ... disapprove ... of the run and rally).  Plans included meeting at the parking lot of a closed supermarket, winding through town to pass by all four of the city-owned five flags displays (the flags of the nations that have governed Pensacola, minus one, and plus a state flag, which makes absolutely no sense), traveling under the 17th Street Trestle, aka the Graffiti Bridge where a huge, painted battle flag made local news shortly after the mayor's ill advised flag attack, and back to Palafox Street and Lee Square.

Soggy flags, but rain no deterrant. (Photo by S. Tedder)

We were expecting maybe twenty-five vehicles. About sixty five showed up, and we organizers were delighted! It rained on our parade here and there, and at the last minute, we decided to bypass the municipal golf course -- the jog through a residential area might have bottlenecked our convoy -- and I regretted that. We had promised to hit all four of the displays, but circumstances suggested a change of plans. 

It wasn't raining the whole way. (Photo by S. Tedder)

I had planned the route and made maps in pdf form for people to download and print out so if we got separated by traffic lights, everyone would know where to go. Facebook doesn't have a very good way to share pdfs, though, so not everyone got the maps.

At the rally after the run, people pose in front of the Confederate
Memorial to the "uncrowned heroes of the Southern Confederacy..."

Since the route was my "baby" I was asked to lead the run. Although he isn't "into" Confederate heritage, my hubs was with me this day, and he drove the route.  A little too fast! My battle flag, rising up through the moon roof of my vehicle, broke free of its pole at the bottom. I hauled it in, got pelted by rain, and put thicker tie-wraps through the grommets. Back up she went.

Rally-goers -- three of probably 100 attendees

At one point, some folks got separated from the "pack," missed a turn, and took a different route downtown. But it was great! At Pensacola's "ground zero" -- Garden at Palafox -- vehicles with flags whipping in the wind were coming and going, north, south, east, and west! That little snafu turned out to be one of the highlights of the day.

Special guests from Crestview (L) and rally organizers

About a hundred people comprised the gathering at Lee Square where we met and networked, made pics, and collected the canned goods. The primary organizer made a short speech, introduced special guests, two members of the Lundy family from Crestview, and made a couple of exciting announcements. (More on this in the future!)  After a moment of silence for our Confederate ancestors, the rally came to a close.

. A band of brothers ... and sisters. Southern family.

The event was a learning experience and there was already talk of holding another Pensacola run and rally in the not-to-distant future. The next one, however, will be in Crestview, in support of retuning the flag to the "Uncle Bill" Lundy memorial there. 

 Heading home after a wonderful day celebrating our heritage.