Awhile back we had a question over to the right asking which Sandbar float was the best one ever.  There were six choices:

• 2001’s Egyptian Pyramids
• 2002’s Pirate Ship
• 2003’s Love Shack
• 2004’s Love Boat
• 2005’s Grease Car
• 2006’s Wedding Cake

I was sure that either the Love Boat or the Grease car would win this one. After all, they’re my two favorites.  But whoever reads this blog apparently disagrees.  The Love Shack float got the most votes, by far. 

The Love Shack was a fun float.  The actual float didn’t have a lot to it- we built a wooden "shack" at the back of the trailer and painted it bright colors with some graffiti on it.  Dave put a metal bar down the middle of the trailer for the float riders to hold onto, and we had a couple of giant palm trees on the corners of the trailer.  Other than that, there wasn’t a lot of structure to the float. 

But, oh…the costumes.  Everyone was dressed in their 60’s best.  The girls all wore white go-go boots and short dresses, some even with sequins! We had dresses from vintage stores and some that were handmade especially for the float. Lots of bright colors and bouffant hair.  Even the guys got into the theme with leisure suits. 

And of course the music- we had a great dance to "Love Shack" that Peach choreographed.  Who wouldn’t be happy listening to that?  We bought a B-52’s music video to try to match our moves to the original song.

This was the first year that we didn’t win the Grand Prize Traveling Trophy from the parade judges.  We thought it might have something to do with the fact that one of our giant palm trees decided to fall off the float and take out the crowd, right as we passed the judge’s table.  The Sandbar had won the trophy for several years in a row, and finally other groups were starting to step up and put together really great floats.  We’re glad for that, because it just makes the parade better all the way around.  And we don’t do it for the trophy anyway- we have so much fun building a float, getting dressed up, and dancing our way down Mass Street that we’d make our own parade if we had to.

So, there you have it- the float that you, whoever you are, chose as the best.