Children's Bicycle Parade

July 4, 1915 sees Independence Day celebrated in style with a children’s bicycle parade down Broad Street.  “Penny-farthing” was the term for such conveyances as that ridden by the boy near the first telephone pole.  They were the first machines to be called "bicycles."  Although they are now most commonly known by this name, this term was probably not used until they were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is 1891 in Bicycling News. It comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing. In the late 1890s, the term "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles, which was the forerunner to what we know today as bicycles.  Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era.  Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport. 

A good zoom of the photo shows that many of the kids are wearing clown costumes.  A circus theme perhaps?  And we've seen that light hanging over the street before; last week's photos of Main Street featured it prominently.