Dancing in the streets
29th Doo Dah Parade celebrates ribaldry in Old Pasadena
By Molly R. Okeon Staff Writer
Pasadena Star-News
PASADENA - Those observing the 29th occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade Sunday
afternoon could not help but draw comparisons to Mardi Gras.
"It has the feel and the spirit," said second-time Doo Dah watcher
Kathy Boucher, 55, of Arcadia. "It saves us a trip to New Orleans."
At the parade's starting point on North Raymond Avenue near Holly Street, those
sitting back in lawn chairs and standing with their hands shading the hot afternoon
sun were greeted with the sights of everything from dancing Hare Krishnas in
orange robes to a flatbed truck carrying lounging "Stogie Men" and
a life-size, smoking cigar to a pack of rescued basset hounds in search of
new owners.
Tom Coston, president of the Light Bringer Project that has organized the parade
since 1995, said this was the largest the parade had been since his group had
been running the show. He estimated about 35,000 to 40,000 people present,
including more than 105 groups participating and about 140 volunteers assisting.
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Photo: http://yido.smugmug.com/gallery/974953/1
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Coston and actor/comedian Fred Willard did commentary throughout the
two-hour parade, which Coston said will air on the Travel and Discovery
channels in the next month.
Since next year will be the 30th anniversary of the parade, Coston
said he is thinking of having the procession loop throughout Old Pasadena.
The band Snotty Scotty and the Hankies kicked off the festivities
with The Rivieras' "Warm California Sun" as the temperature
rose and beads of sweat began forming on foreheads.
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Some people were brave enough to bring their children. Hopefully, they were
also brave enough to protect them from flying hot dogs, courtesy of the 2005
Doo Dah grand marshals, the Barbecue & Hibachi Marching Grill Team. These
parade participants donned Hawaiian shirts and straw hats with Kingsford charcoal
bags on top, rolled grills down the street and cooked hot dogs for the crowd,
which they then sent flying through the air in "bratapults."
Photo: http://yido.smugmug.com/gallery/974953/1 |
For his 20th year in the Doo Dah Parade, Fred Wodnicki, 48, of North
Hollywood, seemed slightly overdressed for the heat in a full tuxedo,
sunglasses and a hat, with bandages covering his entire face. No matter
- it was all part of his act, The Claude Rains Memorial 20-Man Invisible
Marching Drill Team.
He started it as a joke two decades ago when he couldn't get his magician
friends to join him in the parade.
Each year, Wodnicki sizes up the crowd for someone to help him hold
his banner and lead his pseudo-group.
This year, he found Mark Howe, 24, of Ontario in the crowd, "stole
the baby out of his hands" and put him in a tuxedo and bandages
for the parade.
But Howe, who was there with his fiancee and 8-month-girl Haley, didn't
mind.
"I love the Doo Dah; I've been coming for five years," Howe
said through his bandages. "I thought, `Why not?' "
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Wodnicki quipped in return, "I made him agree he wouldn't sue if he died
of heat stroke."
The two marched in the afternoon heat with about 15 yards separating them from
the next group.
"We gotta have enough room to squeeze in 20 invisible people," Wodnicki
joked.