Here's another golden oldie for you. It's amazing to see how far our floats have come in the last decade!
Back in 1998, we built a St. Patrick's Day float that replicated a Jimmy Buffett concert. Well, a Buffett concert in his early days, before he had much of a band or much of a crowd.
It was a chilly, rainy day on St. Patrick's day. We had a group of girls (and Garreth, long time bartender/manager) huddled in the back of the truck dancing to the music. The trailer we used was short by today's standards. We built a stage for "Jimmy" complete with tidal waves and backup dancers and palm trees.
We were shocked when Tyler, a bartender at the time and future Harvard law school graduate, agreed to be Jimmy Buffett. He was kind of a shy guy, but he lip-synced his way through the parade like a superstar.
We had some band members with actual instruments and hula girls dancing along with the music.
Doesn't the float look tiny?!?
This was also the first year we had a dog on board. We've had animals as part of the float before, but usually it's a camel or zebra or horse that walks in front of or behind the float. But this year, I'd adopted a puppy from Peach & Ted's dog's latest litter, and she was barely six weeks old. I didn't have a kennel for her yet, so she came along for the ride.
Maggie didn't like the puppy carrier, so we turned her loose in back of the truck. She promptly crawled into someone's duffel bag and curled up inside a sweatshirt and slept the entire parade route.
Does anyone remember this float, or any of our other older ones?