It may have been a parade of umbrellas, but it was a parade. The rainy July Fourth celebration in Bettendorf had a slightly smaller-than-usual crowd Saturday, which meant loads of candy for what was still a considerable number of damp kids that lined the parade route.

"We'd normally have 15 to 20 family members here," said Bob Bubbers of Bettendorf. "The rain kind of scared some of them off. It's just a few of us today."

One parade participant who has been sidelined by bad weather in the past made the best of it in Bettendorf this year.

Jim Benes, 84, his wife and their three sons have taken turns driving the couple's antique Ford Model A's - a 1930 and a 1931 - in dozens of parades. Saturday was at least the 10th ride for the Benes family in the Bettendorf parade.

Jim and Dorothy Benes bought their 1930 30 years ago and bought the 1931 three years later.

"I restored them out here in my garage," Jim said. "The 31 was in kind of bad shape. I had four buckets, each representing one wheel, and I took apart every piece and put it in those buckets.

"My wife said, 'Don't you dare die. I won't know what to do with all those buckets.'"

A retired Arsenal machinist, Benes said he learned to restore cars by simply doing it. He so enjoyed the Model A's that the couple added two Ford Mustangs - a 1965 and a 1967 - to their motoring menagerie.

"My wife and I don't enjoy traveling, so we put our extra money in old cars," he said. "We do it for fun - to have people look at the cars and see what we used to drive."

But their loyalty to Ford ends at the collectors' set.

"We drive a Chevy every day," Dorothy said.

The antique cars have been in 22 of the 24 St. Patrick's Day Parades, she said, and are regulars at many other parades and car shows. Their sons take turns behind the wheel, but they do not have to wait in line behind their mother.

"I was driving in a Bettendorf parade one year, and I was behind the Brach's (candy) van, and they were throwing candy by the handful," Dorothy said. "The kids were so close, I said, 'I'll never do that again.'

"We're not going to throw candy this year. They said it's not safe, and candy can only be handed out."

She was surprised to learn candy was still being thrown from at least two vehicles in Saturday's parade: The Bettendorf Police Department's squad car and an SUV for the Scott County Sheriff's Department.

Officials at the two agencies were unavailable Saturday to comment on whether they were made aware of the rule change.

Though the parade is behind them for this year, the Beneses will not be putting their Model As in storage, they said.

As longtime members of the Quad-City Antique Ford Club, the couple will have other ways of racking up more miles.

"We regularly have a progressive dinner with the car club, starting at one house for salad and moving to other houses for each course, finishing with dessert at the last one," Dorothy said. "We started one year in Davenport with salads, and we ended up in Coal Valley (Ill.) for dessert."