Nice things. Can we have them? It seems increasingly difficult!

Last week, the official Facebook page for the annual Ferndale Lighted Tractor Parade featured a statement aiming to dispel rumors that this year’s event would not allow “religious symbolism or faith-based entries.”

Not so, saith the tractor wranglers! In reality, organizers say they simply tweaked the rules so as to discourage floats like one that stirred controversy during last year’s parade. “These rules are not meant to silence faith or creativity,” the post reads, in part. “They’re meant to keep the parade focused on what it’s always been about: community, joy, and the holiday spirit that makes Ferndale shine so brightly each December.” Reasonable… or is it?

As you may have already guessed, the float in question was one fashioned by St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and its messy bitch of a pastor, Tyrel Bramwell, and it featured the projected image of an in utero fetus accompanied by festive anti-abortion messaging (see above). Merry Christmas to all!

So yeah, we’re not doing that this year. But Bramwell, big mad* about not being able to pilot a divisive float in this year’s parade, responded to the slight by spelling out his feelings on his church’s ever-changing sign, which today reads “FERNDALE PARADE BANNED CHRISTIAN MESSAGES FROM CHRISTMAS FLOATS.” Don’t believe us? 

Womp womp. 

So anyway, just another day in our exhausting country. And since it was getting close to 4:20 p.m. and LoCO needed a poll topic, we thought we’d put this little tiff before y’all, our trusted readers. What do you think? Did the parade organizers go too far? Should we maybe have even more fetus imagery at our holiday gatherings? Vote below! 

Should Giant Images of Unborn Fetuses Be Allowed in Ferndale’s Christmas Tractor Parade?

(*- To be clear, this is performative anger on Bramwell’s part. In reality he views any li’l controversy as an opportunity to cultivate bangin’ content for his YouTube channel and he is absolutely delighted with how this is all playing out. Despite what you might’ve heard, the Internet is still sooo much fun.)