“Like it’s sunny and it’s beautiful and you want to be here.” Guardian poses with the group for pictures in front of a float bearing Italian and American flags. The fast-talking 61-year-old shakes hands with one wearing a tiara and sash reading “Miss Columbus”, from a beauty pageant to celebrate its namesake’s arrival in North America. Drops of water patter against the town’s wooden boardwalk as Mayor Don Guardian approaches four young women shivering in gowns.
