THE PIG FLIES AGAIN!

                  

   God must love the Flying Pig Parade. She held back the rain long enough for us to amaze a crowd of thousands. January 3rd's third annual downtown procession was one to remember. Let me tell you why.

Georg, Stan, and Glenn, ready to rock.

   It started with our emcees, Gregg and Stan, making a few introductions that include Georg Suzuki.  Every year she yodels a bombastic peace chant that wakes us up.

   

 

 

   Nearby stood Ward Shelley ready to lower his huge winged swine with a "10, 9, 8..." countdown in front of  two thousand  fans.

 

 

 

    Gregg led the countdown. When the pink pig hit the pavement, "Swine On The Wing" was off and running.

   

 

 

 

 

   Bobby and his grandchildren led the procession once more with their bright banner and a cardboard sign. 

   Stan and Gregg did a terrific job of announcing each entry. 

 

 

 

    

 

Most marchers are a part of group. My buddy, Ward, manages to be in four of them.  After he dropped his pig he picked up a drum and joined our first band, the  "Bloco GNV Samba Saints".  In the distance you can see, -up above- the exuberant Griffin Wulf, a sight to behold on long, stilted legs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Down below a young crowd took it all in.

 

   Some saw things they'd never seen before. It was not a homecoming parade, or anything like a Disney experience. 

 

 

  Surrounding Griffin were puppeteers with
characters as small as she was tall.

 

 

   Artist Iver Thue was Big Pig who seemed to be everywhere at once.

 

 

 

 

The parade had sixty entries. 

Some had 26 members  while others performed individually.

 

   This year's Grand Marshal was Joe Courter. He has published "The Gainesville Iguana" newspaper for forty years.  Every month Generous Joe gives us

 

THANK YOU, JOE!

 

all the news we need.

 

     Like Joe, Jill Dumas' clown band is pure Gainesville. Jill has led her colorful merrymakers in processions for years. 

 

    Each clown is a walking work of art. The "Freak Island Musical Sideshow" is so good we insisted that they go around twice.

JILL LEADING HER CREW

  

   We all know whatever courage Marco Rubio once had ended when he jumped on the Trump train. That's when he lost his spine. 

A  pig-nosed Gainesville resident recently found it and shared it with the audience.

   

 

 Later it was snatched by a hungry beagle.

Scott Camil leading his VFP troops

    Our parade promotes many social issues like solving problems without violence.  This is why
we have our local chapter of "Veterans For Peace", They march with us every year.

   "Free Palestine" was sponsored by a similar group, Jewish Voices For Peace. I saw the parade's future in this young, enthusiastic group.

G

GRANDMOTHER EARTH ROUNDING THE CORNER

     

 

LYNX'S BANNED WAGON.    

    Following Free Palestine was "Free Banned Books" sponsored by Main Street's Lynx Bookstore.  Lauren and her family passed out hundreds of them.  Behind them were friends of ours wearing a variety of banned books.

 

    People attended in huge numbers standing along the streets, looking down from balconies, and seated on the Hippodrome Theater steps.

    Everyone of them wanted to see the Epstein Files so I had my friend, Davy Dots, reveal them in the parade. 

 

 

     After seeing them many wondered why Trump had kidnapped a president and threatened to invade Greenland so we'd forget they existed.

        

                 WE WON'T FORGET 

 

    Neither will New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani. I knew his new job might be keeping him busy but still wanted him in "The Pig".

    I called his office and was told he was unavailable. Fortunately City Commissioner Bryan Eastman -who looks a bit like Zohran-  agreed to take his place.  

The City Commissioner Doin' the Zohran Shuffle

 

 

        The Smooth Flava Line Dancers are always a hit.  You can go to Bo Diddley Plaza on any Thursday afternoon and they'll show you how its done.

 

 

    Gainesville's Sierra Club was out in full force reminding us that we must continue the fight for control our city's "GRU" utilities.  They seemed unaware that they were being chased by a pack of dinosaurs.

The club had a second group protesting the latest Florida bear hunt. They were supporting the

BEARS, STILL UNAWARE, OF THE GAGGLE OF TYRANOSAURUS REXES BEHIND THEM

 Hot on their trail were the Stars of the Show, THE DANCIN' DINOSAURS! They came all the way from Melrose, Florida, to twerk for masses.

And twerk they did!

The fans' favorite boogied to "Dancin' In The Street" and "Crocodile Rock" with abandon. Our poster featuring them sold out in 27 seconds.

 

 

 

 

In Melrose every mother prays her child will grow up to be worthy of this local reptilian dance troupe.  

    If that doesn't work out they are always welcome to join the group that followed, "AMFIFA", Amphibians Against Fascists.

We thank Len Cohen for putting his group together.  He's the Kermit on the left.

 

   All of our parade's frogs, dinosaurs, and humans got to enjoy great live music from our

BANDS that included 

momma trish vs. godzilla

 

Eddie's group, LOS BROCHACHOS

 

And Russ's (who performed on piggyback) band, "YALLWEIRD" 

 

   This little quartet ("HelloReco") had had their own Brazilian beat ( and, Ward in his third incarnation).

   After the orange dinos passed we had actual people dancing like the
"Greenwood Morris Dancers" 

 

and this  lively group, 

They'll teach you to dance any Wednesday night.

 

                -i n t e r m i s s i o n-

    Are you exhausted from reading this?  It is a lot, my fingers hurt from tapping the keys.

    You may know this was my last parade.  After producing 33 of 'em I'm calling it quits. Someone will probably make the next one happen. If they do I'll be in it. 

     I dive deep into these zany events. This being my final production I wanted to put it all in writing.  

 WARNING:  I'm only half done. 

                  ________________ 

    I'm amazed by the hard work put in by some groups like the one representing our historic Duckpond neighborhood. They spent weekends making water fowl, signs, and duck calls for the  WACKY QUACKERS.  Their fearless leader, David Goboff, showed them the way.

Imagine having the "monsters under the bed" nightmare as an adult. Those monsters could very well be Trump's cabinet, the worst possible people running this country. 

Michael Shields awakened to this too real nightmare in our parade. 

 

   I was proud to see Maple and Susan standing up for a woman's right to control her own body.

   They offered free vasectomies to all of the men in the audience who voted to end abortion rights in Florida two years ago.

 

David, my retired UF math professor neighbor, 

knows something about Greek mathematicians. 

 

 

     Sadly, we have a president whose idea of hurricane relief is tossing paper towels to storm victims. He made an appearance to the chagrin of the audience.

 

 

   My softball buddies, Dave and Steve, did their best to protect him.  He was only attacked twice, once by a red-clad clown and later, by Super Pig. 

Dave and Steve protecting comedian, Tom Miller

 

 

 

   You really can't have a decent Gainesville parade without a purple lion. 

       This one, powered by the two UF students inside, delighted everyone.

  Gainesville's Colombian folk dancers are also a crowd favorite.

 

     One of my least favorite things is the new policy at Florida's 900 Public supermarkets. They now allow their customers to carry guns into

their stores. 

    To mark this sad and scary decision Rhonda did some shopping -with her AK-47- "where shooting is a pleasure". 

 

   

    Her husband, Bill Prouty, followed with his "I'm The Original Big Beautiful Bill" sign. 

 

   The United Church of Gainesville jumped into the fray with whistles in hand.

EXPOSING CORRUPTION AND ICE AGENTS WHILE HAVING A GOOD TIME

 

     Another group of UCG'ers followed wearing smart jail jumpsuits, "Future Fashions of the White House Cabinet".  Pete Hegseth (hard to see here) carried a bottle of scotch.

I don't think you'd see that in our other holiday parade. 

 

  Two months ago as I attended garden party one of the dancing dinosaurs asked if I needed anything else for the parade. I told her, "Congress is doing nothing to reign in our deranged president. They need a huge spine. Can you get me one?"   

They happily led me to a Melrose artist who made me a fourteen-footer. 

 

 

 

            Moments like that are magical.

 

 

   Do you remember Mrs.Roper from Three's Company? She's more popular than ever with her big hair and psychedelic mu-mu's.  We had a bunch of 'em on our procession!

 

   Who doesn't love a parade with its own grave diggers chanting, "Hey hey ho ho, We dig the hole and in you go!"?  

  The Society of the Pick & Spade has marched with us from the beginning carrying their shovels, woven casket, and "Mr. Bones".  We can thank Jack K. for organizing them.

T

THEY DO THE DIGGING AT GAINESVILLE'S  PRAIRIE CREEK GREEN CEMETERY.

 

 

Giant puppets are a big part of the show and we had many.

Lee Malis brought his pirate and friends to wave the arms.

 

 

Our president has made it clear that he wants to be a king. Most agree that "King Trump" is a horrible idea and some of them joined us on January 3d.

Thank you Kirk for carrying the guy wearing the Burger King crown.

The next Gainesville No Kings rally will take place next month.

While we're disgusted by the Orange Menace, we are thrilled to have Pope Leo as a good world leader. Kind and compassionate, he is everything that Trump is not. His fan club agreed.

THANK YOU, EDO, FOR  MARCHING INSIDE THE POPE. YOU GUYS WERE GREAT!

Don't listen to our governor, being "woke" is a good thing.

 

Doesn't it seem strange that people spend half  their lives staring at screens?  THE CELL PHONE ZOMBIES did nothing else.

 

 

They stumbled through the entire parade unaware that they were in one.

 

 I don't know who took this photo but it captured the spirit of the whole affair. Many of the older folks told me,"I haven't seen something like this in fifty years!"

 

Florida's governor keeps coming up with new ways to discriminate and limit free speech. First you could not mentioned global warming then he moved on to  "Don't say gay".

We want to forget about the angry Tallahassee tyrant. We say,

 

QUEEN ALEXANDRA MADE QUITE A STATEMENT

 

 

 

Politicians make lousy educators. Both our governor and the president are doing their best to destroy public schools and free speech.

 Gary was our "Silenced Professor"   standing up for both of these and and all First Amendment rights.

    Destroying democracy is what it's all about and it starts with making it harder to vote. 

 

    This group, "LET THE PEOPLE VOTE" featured a ballot box with red legs (Ward was inside for his fourth appearance).

 

   Every fifty-feet a half dozen voters would approach it to cast their ballots. Once deposited, the box would toss them out and run away.

 

 

 

 

   Our procession had two bee groups this year. "Bee City USA" stressed the importance of bees in keeping plants pollinated. 

 

 

 

"Bee Hive" stressed the importance of coming up with good "bee" jokes like,

and

The Queen Bee (hive by Ward)

   The fool in the White House is thrilled every time someone gives him an award he didn't earn.  "Peace Prizes For Grifters" gave out similar awards to his entire cabinet.

The Pig doesn't allow everyone to march.

You have to be colorful and entertaining with one exception for kids. They only have to be cute and they always are. 

 

 

 

Amelia says, "Art Not Hate".

Sugarhill is a historic neighborhood in Southwest Gainesville.

 

For some the parade was too much. 

 

For the first time we had a real marching band in our procession, "Porkestra 352". They were perfect, a group of musical friends in pink coming together to have some fun.

Finally this story is winding down. The last group in our holiday parade is always "Daddy Santa and the Mrs.Claus"  Turbado and Teri have a sign that says.

       "Don't bother us we're on vacation". 

 

When it finally ended over they stood up, stretched, and headed back to the North Pole.

  The rest of us headed over to our post-parade party, "Bo Diddley's Birthday Bash", which featured the Show Time Band

 

 

and a deliciously decorated  cake. We sang "Happy Birthday" to the local legend who would have been 97 if he were still with us.

 

   What a day it was.  I couldn't imagine ending my

parade career on a happier note.

 

    I gratefully thank my wife, Francesca, Ward, Kim, Gregg, Stan, Kevin, Nigel, Eve, Shirley, Rhonda, John, Heidi, Ed, Bill, Shelby, Michael and all the other volunteers who pitched in to make Pig III happen.

   Parades aren't cheap. Let's not forget the grant organizations and donors who helped pay the many expenses. 

   As they say, "It takes a village to fly a pig".  

 

   I expect it'll fly again a year from now. While someone else runs the show I'll be dancin' with the dinosaurs.

 

-Glenn Terry,

  Founder of the Flying Pig Parade             January 24, 2026
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