This is part 2 of my report about my participation in the Smiths Grove Christmas parade on Friday December 2. My giant wrapped gift / mobile ventriloquist stage was complete now it was time to head to the parade.
I pushed the decorated cart to the staging area for the parade at Ed Spear Park about ¾ of a mile away from my house. Along the way I saw several people I knew including my sister in law and a co-worker from ShopNBC who had her 3 kids with her. I gave them each a Tootsie Pop from my candy stash.
I arrived at the park and was in my designated parade position right behind an SUV from PNB bank. Their mascot “Linny”, an orange furry character of some kind would be standing up in the back of it as it drove down Main Street. After I found my spot in the third of four rows that each ran the length of the parking lot I had about a 45 minute wait before the parade would start.
I realigned the box around the cart and tightened the wires. Then I set up the Ipod and the sound system so the song “Jungle Bells” would play as I walked along the street. I unzipped the gym bag and released Leopold. I put on his Santa hat and straightened his mane the positioned him on the small wooden bench in the cart’s seat. I was ready to go but there was still about 45 minutes before the parade started.
I decided to take advantage of the captive audience aka all the others who were also waiting in their lines. I picked up Leopold and began to stroll among the flat beds and vehicles. Leopold talked with everyone he saw wishing them a “Merry Christmas.”
Most of the kids really liked him and spoke directly to him telling him their names and asking him various questions about himself. Seeing their reaction and how they treated Leopold as though he was real gave me lots of confidence. It made me anxious to get started.
A woman who was with the PNB vehicle really made a big fuss over Leopold. I took advantage of her admiration and asked her to take a picture of us.
Soon the parade started and our procession made it through the park gates and onto the parade route.
I handed out my first pieces of candy and Leopold began wishing all he encountered “Merry Christmas”.
I went from curb to curb handing out candy to the kids and letting Leopold tell everyone how he was Santa’s helper. I wanted to spend time talking with all the kids I saw but there were dozens and dozens of them and I had to keep moving.
The parade was fun for the first half of the route; but there were things that happened that made the 2nd half a little less enjoyable.
The pace of the parade was a lot faster than I thought it would be. Both the PNB vehicle in front of me and the pick-up pulling the flat bed behind me moved down the street a lot faster than I realized they would.
By the time I got to the area between the railroad tracks and the Flavor Isle (that’s the local independent window service fast food place) I was practically running to catch up with the parade in front of me and to keep what was behind me from passing me by.
I also had a problem that was of my own doing. I had taken a spool of extra ribbon with me just in case I needed it to fix up the cart. When I didn’t need it I stashed the spool in the bottom of my candy bag.
About halfway through the parade as I was reaching in to grab candy and give it to the spectators the ribbon unraveled. It tangled around my wrist tethering my hand to the bag. That made it really difficult to hand out candy. I ended up with a lot left over.
The last half of the parade was more like my jogging ½ a mile while pushing a shopping card. I don’t remember handing out buy 3 or 4 handfuls of candy over the last couple of blocks.
At Sixth Street the parade turned to the right and headed back toward the local elementary school. That’s where the route would end. Instead of turning right I went left past the county police who were blocking traffic. By this time I was tired, overheated and ready to go home. That’s where I headed.
When I got home I felt a sense of accomplishment. I wasn’t totally satisfied with what I had just been through. But I had done what I set out to do. From an idea I had created a stage from which as a ventriloquist, in about an hour I had appeared in the largest audience of my entire career. That was my objective all along.
Now what do I take away from my participation in the Smiths Grove Christmas Parade? I have learned not to be afraid to try and expand the spectrum of my creativity. I now have a bit more confidence in the fact that I can make my ideas tangible and not just on the written page, recorded on a CD or a digital computer file. In the future I will be more certain when it comes to “making” tangible projects.
What I’ve learned from being in the parade is this. Next year I will do something different. I will forgo the candy give away. As I’ve mentioned nearly everyone who is in the parade gives away candy. So I think focusing on interacting with the spectators more instead of handing out sweets will be more effective. I will be different than those throwing candy.
The reason for not throwing candy is so that, instead of pushing a cart I can carry my puppet. This will give me even more mobility along the route making it easier to keep up the pace. Even if I fall behind jogging with a 2 or 3 pound puppet to catch up will be a lot easier than it was on the run while pushing a 30 pound shopping cart with one hand.
See lessons learned. Just goes to show you that being part of my small town’s Christmas parade was not only fun it was a learning experience.
I can’t wait until next year.
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