THE WORLD'S FIRST FLYING PIG PARADE

      It took a year to put on a one-hour parade but it was well worth it.  The first Flying Pig Parade stepped out at 2 p.m. on December 30, 2023.

   There were cameras everywhere, including my own. I'd like to share a few of our photographs.

   We lined up with our groups in the staging area. This was a great place to shoot paraders-in-waiting.

 

These people below were from the distant past, looking for a new site for Gainesville's renaissance fair.

Pink with passion, Julie Anspach encouraged her "Weird Barbies" to practice their dance.

The Star Center Theaters Baton and Flag Corps were anxious to march.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Fauci was chill,  hanging out with his fans.

 

 

 

 

 

Shana and her friend,  magnificent winged pigs (on skates), found our parade route's bricks

impossibly bumpy. They stuck to the sidewalks.

 

 

 

 

 

  Gainesville is a "Bee City", part of a pollination nation.  Here's Jackie (right)  is about to celebrate  with two of her flower girls.

 

 

 

I was all over the place making sure the pig would fly.

 

 

 

Thanks to Hutch and his band, "The Weeds of Eden", we had a flying pig float waiting to enter our procession.

 

 

Our emcees, Gregg Jones,

 

 

 

 

 

 

and Stan Richardson,

 

 

 

 

introduced our grand marshals, Sheila Payne and Paul Ortiz, 

along with special guests (on vacation), Daddy and Mrs. Claus.

 

Then we waited,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and waited,

 

for the flying pig to land. We could not begin until it did.

When she finally descended our grand procession took its first steps.

 

 

The Altman family led the way

Followed by the Star Center Theatre's Baton & Flag Corps


This group was promoting banned books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and members of the Dr. Fauci Fan Club shouted, "In Tony we trust!".

 

Bee City came buzzing by then 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" turned SE 1st into a street dance. 

 

 

City officials told us early on that we could not have real pigs in our pig parade. 

Jim Harper told me his dog, Emmet, was as chubby as one so we had them join us.

 

After the parade I discovered  this little girl had carried her little oinker in our procession.  She had not been aware of the no pork decree.

 

 

 

 

The magnificent Dragonbox Theater entry

Griffin Wulf towering above puppeteer, George O'Brien

 

 The amazing artist, Savannah Elliot, could have been her own parade.

 

Multi-talented Jill Dumas has led her colorful clown band in parades for years. They loved performing in The Pig so much they went around twice.

 

 

Soon the entire city commission will be wearing purple pork-pie hats

A few of our elected officials even joined the fun.

 

The Smooth Flava dance crew were a crowd favorite with their fan-snappin' moves. 

 

Regina, the leader of this group, had to ask the audience for quiet so they could read.

The Morris Dancers showed us how they "got down" in England 500 years ago.

The Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery featured their Grave-Digger Drill Team along with a classic funeral casket and cart. 

Their chant: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, we dig the hole and in you go!"

 

 

 

 

 

Their twelve-foot mascot,  "Mr. Bones", followed.

Carlos carried the bones while David and Carol kept them moving.

Our Melrose friends came to Gainesville with their wild  DANCING DINOSAURS.

They boogied so hard its no wonder they went extinct.

 

Even our local math aficionados were in the mix.

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as were happy fish reminding us that the seas are rising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Barbie movie was huge in '23 so our edgy endeavor brought out the WEIRD BARBIES.

 

Presenting:Santa's hit men from Bavaria, 

THE KRAMPUS TWINS

 

followed by Iver Thue as BIG PIG

 

and Michael Shields as Super Swine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peggy Bowie put this incredible group together  standing up for women's rights.

We had music too.  Our bands included the "Weeds of Eden" (above), "Head Stash", and the salsa group, "Ramos Pinta".

     The Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice sponsored the "Pinta" group and  also partnered with us in seeking grants.

 

Many of our groups asked, "Where's our country headed?  For instance, it's getting harder and harder to vote.

These voters had to chase down a ballot box and as soon as they deposited their ballots, the box spit them out!  It happened twenty times.

 

We thank Ward Shelly, the guy inside the box, for running away from the voters so quickly.

 

 

This family spent the whole time looking for their lost chicken. Sadly, they never found it.

 

 

King Mango came up from Coconut Grove to see what all the fuss was about.

Maha danced and pranced

while a former President asked an important question (when he flipped his sign the other side read, "Absolutely!").

 

Our local Veterans For Peace chapter marched solemnly reminding us that war is good for nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our procession finally ended with Santa and his wife heading out on a well deserved vacation. 

 

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Afterwards we retreated to Bo Diddley Plaza to celebrate Bo's 95th birthday. 

Had the Gainesville legend still been alive he'd probably would have marched with us. The Showtime Band entertained singing "Happy Birthday" as we shared Bo's cake.                       ______________

 

The parade was a huge endeavor by a devoted group of volunteers. I thank them all along with the photographers whose work you see above. Many made videos too.

I thank my wife, 

-Francesca, who helped in many ways and put up with my craziness for the last year,

-Shirley, who created our website (flyingpigparade.org) and maintained it magnificently,   

-Heidi, for designing our popular poster, and,

-the many organizations and donors who "shared the dream" and funded our unique event.

To see more photos, many have posted on our Flying Pig Parade Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/619570883232508 .

Ron Cunningham wrote an excellent photo essay about the whole  affair at https://freegnv.com/2023/12/31/wait-i-missed-the-flying-pigs/

I have no photographs of a number of groups for this blog but I thank you, just the same, for being a part of our zany event.

A friend is editing a ten-minute video that will include most groups. We'll gather for its grand premiere in a couple of weeks.

Something tells me we started something good. Next December let's make the pig fly again!

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