While the adventure to Wenatchee is routine for our Deer Park Float Association, each year this adventure is new and exciting for our Deer Park Royalty — it’s the first parade and sets the tone for float season!
This trip to the Apple Festival and the Stemilt Grand Parade brought an early morning of getting ready, prepping the float, then donning the sashes and crowns. Deer Park is known for starting the dance party each year, and this year proved no different. Our royalty looked so proud and quickly made many new friends from all over! (And I’m secretly a huge fan of the sound system on our community float – it rocks!) The morning moved along quickly, and included judging and final preparations to roll through the parade. This year, our Deer Park float and royalty left Wenatchee with the Golden Apple Award!
The next parade was the all-day event for the Spokane Lilac Festival and the Armed Forces Torchlight Parade. This year the Deer Park float followed the Deer Park – Riverside band as one of the final few entries. This is the only night parade for our girls and they report that while the day was long, it was a great time! They were able to explore Riverfront Park, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing familiar faces in the crowd cheering them on. The float earned 3rd place in our division and a wonderful plaque to display.
In addition to having a ready smile that will last through a full day of events, ensuring that all three representatives remember all the pieces needed for their various wardrobe changes presents its challenges and rewards. It is important for the ladies’ outfits to match and coordinate appropriately as planned. If someone forgets something, it can throw off the image of unity and continuity, so the group must adjust on the fly, teaching our representatives great life skills for the future for sure! Furthermore, working together and getting to know the members of the float committee helps to build lifelong friends and a great support group.
This summer adventure is just getting started and is on the way to being a fantastic experience for our representatives and our community!
