It certainly wasn't a welcome fit for heroes. There was no cheering or back-slapping. Only a polite ripple of applause greeted Portadown Orangemen as they marched into the field at Killylea.
The men who have kept the flag flying at Drumcree must surely have been disappointed. But these are confusing times for the Orange rank-and-file. Their leaders are divided on the way forward. Some condemn the violence on the streets, others don't.
Even the fighting men of Portadown were split on whether or not to attend the Co Armagh demonstration in Killylea, with die-hards wanting to stay put at Drumcree.
The Co Armagh parade is traditionally the largest outside Belfast, with 10,000 people taking part most years. The numbers were well down yesterday as around 3,000 made their way to the field.
The weather didn't help. It was a damp, dank day. The lush, ornate banners were a kaleidoscope of colour against the grey skies. They depicted scenes from bygone days - King Billy on his white steed and Dan Winter's cottage, where the order was founded two centuries ago.
Orangemen with biscuit tins collected the £3 fee for the carpark. In the field, it was a typical family day out. Toddlers waved plastic Union Jacks. Their older brothers and sisters munched popcorn and candy floss.
Elderly Orangemen, tired from marching, snoozed under trees. Teenage girls flirted with young bandsmen. The celebrations weren't as boozy as Belfast but, despite the temperance rules, many Orangemen downed bottles of beer.
Stalls sold loyalist key-rings, tea-towels, Christian books, and paramilitary tapes. A collection of tunes called Simply the Bigot proved popular.
Sixteen Orange dignitaries - all men and many of them clerics - sat on the podium in the centre of the field. There were hymns, scripture readings, prayers for Ulster, and denunciations of godlessness and fornication.
There was a mention for recently deceased brethren or, as Denis Watson, the County Grand Master put it, "those called home to higher service".
Resolutions were passed calling for the strengthening of Protestantism. It was regretted that some clergy were more concerned with building closer relations with Catholics than promoting their own faith.
Another motion reaffirmed Orangemen's "devotion and loyalty to her most gracious majesty Queen Elizabeth II" and expressed delight that Australia had voted not to become a republic.
But it was events at home which commanded most attention.
Mr Watson said the British government was behaving disgracefully. Myra Hindley remained in jail while convicted paramilitary killers walked the streets of Northern Ireland.
Standards of decency were disintegrating. SDLP ministers couldn't "even fly the flag of this country over the government buildings they administer".
The grand master of Ireland, Mr Robert Saulters, deemed the inspection of Provisional IRA arms dumps by the two international monitors "a lot of old eyewash".
Mr Cyril Ramaphosa was "too well fed" to enter any underground bunker. And former Finnish president Mr Martti Ahtisaari had a bad leg. He wasn't likely to be climbing into holes in the ground.
Mr Tony Blair could talk all he wanted about arms inspections but the Ulster people wouldn't believe him, declared Mr Saulters. "We are not so gullible as he seems to think."