It all started with a big bang.

And after Jerry Corn touched off his cannon, the explosion reverberating in a suitably impressive way, the newly minted graduates of Baker High School and Eagle Cap Innovative High School were on their way.

School officials were careful to call it a processional, since the streets on the graduates’ route from BHS to downtown Baker City were open to other traffic.

But a parade it indubitably was.

Vehicles crawled along, horns blaring.

People waved and smiled.

My son, Max, even nabbed a sweet that BHS graduate Averi Elms tossed from her seat in a pickup truck.

Sunday afternoon’s parade might be the only one in Baker City during this pandemic summer.

I hope that’s not the case.

But whether or not the graduates’ processional is the singular event of its kind in 2020, I believe it will be a highlight — even though it took place on a cool and drizzly afternoon more typical of March than of June.

And I think the parade/processional should spawn a tradition for future classes even though they receive their diplomas after walking across the grass at Baker Bulldog Memorial Stadium, not riding in a vehicle rolling through the bus lane in front of the school.

The Class of 2020 will be memorable regardless, of course.

But I think the panache with which they carried off this milestone ought to be more than just a one-off.

The Baker School District succeeded in arranging a diploma ceremony that, despite the unorthodox circumstances, was both appropriate and fun.

If nothing else, graduates, with an entire vehicle to decorate, had a much larger canvas than the top of a mortarboard on which to express their individuality.

I found the combination of commencement and car show rather charming.

But it was the post-diploma part of the event that seems to me worth repeating.

Graduates, and their vehicles, gathered in the main parking lot between the gym and the football stadium. After stepping out of the cars for the traditional turning of the tassels, the graduates, prohibited by state guidelines from tossing their mortarboards, instead released a flotilla of balloons.

Then, with a police escort, they rolled onto E Street and headed for downtown.

I watched the parade from Broadway. I enjoyed it immensely.

I was pleased to see so many people — several hundred in all — turn out to honor the graduates despite the dismal weather.

The event was much less formal than a traditional commencement, but it was if anything more poignant. The format, or so it seemed to me, gave every graduate a way to stand out in a way that doesn’t happen when they’re sitting in perfect lines of folding chairs.

On Sunday some grads reclined in the bed of a pickup truck. Others sat on the roof. There was much use of sunroofs.

I can’t think of a better way for graduates, and their community, to celebrate together.

Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City Herald.