Shiney Happy Jenn
12-26-2006, 09:08 PM
Hi everyone!
Hope you all had a great Christmas...and are still enjoying the festivities.
Now that i have a moment, i wanted to come on and tell everyone about a special event i was involved in this year.
For the past 20 years, the City of Lynn, Ma ( where i live...) has a annual Christmas Eve Parade. Every year this huge "homemade" parade winds it's way through the entire city and lasts about 5 hours from start to stop! People from around the area build there own floats, lighting them with thousands of lights, along with huge rolling displays on the backs of trucks, trailers, flatbeds..you name it if it has wheels. The floats are mostly made out of existing vehicles, but the creative ways these folks go about making them festive is really cool. The run the lights and blastin X-mas music off of portable generators..so it is a massive rolling caravan of holiday cheer.
Everyone dresses up in themed costumes, and there are plenty of mascots. Every popular character you can think of is usually involved ( all non-offical suits of course..) as well as many generic X-mas characters such as snowmen and teddy bears. Santa and Mrs.Claus appear at the parades end on their authentic antique sleigh pulled by 6 reindeer figures. Very cool. Many of the vehicle characters toss wrapped candy into the street for the children to snap up from the sidelines. All the floats and the hundreds of people who put this show on every X-mas Eve all donate there time. Nobody is paid to do this..it is simply done in the spirit of the season.
So where does Chuck E. fit into all of this? Well this year i volunteered to appear as him in the parade....something i have been meaning to do for some time now. It came about as a fluke, but people were keen on having me involved so and went with it. I'm glad i did, as it was a LOT of fun...and i broke my longstanding performace record for mascot work--5 hours straight in the suit! No head popping either..full suit performace and appearence in a 5 hour period. It was exillerating, but man was i wiped out on X-mas Day! Ha ha!
Thousands of people line the street around town at night a few hours before it passes by. Whole families were outside having street parties or sorts as the weather was very mild for this time of year ( only 50 degrees that night! WOwee!). It was awesome! People went absolutely NUTS when they saw Chuck. I mean TOTALLY nuts. And not just the kids either! Parents, Grandparents, Gang Members ( yep..they saw it too!)..you name it. Everyone loved him. It was amazing to see just how recognizable the character truly is...and how every age group greeted him with just as enthusiastic response as the other. What a night!
Of course there are always trouble makers.....a few peices of the wrapped candy the Snowman and Teddy Bear were tossing into the street as we drove by were whipped back at us ( i was hit 3 times pretty good...but no damage) but all in all it was a positive experience. They already insist i come back next year, and there is talk now of Chuck E. having his own custom made float in his honor so he will be more visable. How cool will that be for Chuck's 30th Anniversary next year??
Well i just wanted to let you all hear about how our favourite Rat appeared in this local parade and brought Christmas cheer to thousands of new and old fans!
For those wanting to know the details.....Chuck appeared in his derby ( YEeeesss!) and yellow sweatshirt. He rode standing up the entire 5 hour trip ( ohhhh my feet...) and waved and gestured to the folks along the parade route.
Sorry, but no photos were taken that night, at least by me. Many took his pic along the street though when he passed. The local newspaper ran a story about the annual parade, but Chuck did not appear.
Hope you all had a great Christmas...and are still enjoying the festivities.
Now that i have a moment, i wanted to come on and tell everyone about a special event i was involved in this year.
For the past 20 years, the City of Lynn, Ma ( where i live...) has a annual Christmas Eve Parade. Every year this huge "homemade" parade winds it's way through the entire city and lasts about 5 hours from start to stop! People from around the area build there own floats, lighting them with thousands of lights, along with huge rolling displays on the backs of trucks, trailers, flatbeds..you name it if it has wheels. The floats are mostly made out of existing vehicles, but the creative ways these folks go about making them festive is really cool. The run the lights and blastin X-mas music off of portable generators..so it is a massive rolling caravan of holiday cheer.
Everyone dresses up in themed costumes, and there are plenty of mascots. Every popular character you can think of is usually involved ( all non-offical suits of course..) as well as many generic X-mas characters such as snowmen and teddy bears. Santa and Mrs.Claus appear at the parades end on their authentic antique sleigh pulled by 6 reindeer figures. Very cool. Many of the vehicle characters toss wrapped candy into the street for the children to snap up from the sidelines. All the floats and the hundreds of people who put this show on every X-mas Eve all donate there time. Nobody is paid to do this..it is simply done in the spirit of the season.
So where does Chuck E. fit into all of this? Well this year i volunteered to appear as him in the parade....something i have been meaning to do for some time now. It came about as a fluke, but people were keen on having me involved so and went with it. I'm glad i did, as it was a LOT of fun...and i broke my longstanding performace record for mascot work--5 hours straight in the suit! No head popping either..full suit performace and appearence in a 5 hour period. It was exillerating, but man was i wiped out on X-mas Day! Ha ha!
Thousands of people line the street around town at night a few hours before it passes by. Whole families were outside having street parties or sorts as the weather was very mild for this time of year ( only 50 degrees that night! WOwee!). It was awesome! People went absolutely NUTS when they saw Chuck. I mean TOTALLY nuts. And not just the kids either! Parents, Grandparents, Gang Members ( yep..they saw it too!)..you name it. Everyone loved him. It was amazing to see just how recognizable the character truly is...and how every age group greeted him with just as enthusiastic response as the other. What a night!
Of course there are always trouble makers.....a few peices of the wrapped candy the Snowman and Teddy Bear were tossing into the street as we drove by were whipped back at us ( i was hit 3 times pretty good...but no damage) but all in all it was a positive experience. They already insist i come back next year, and there is talk now of Chuck E. having his own custom made float in his honor so he will be more visable. How cool will that be for Chuck's 30th Anniversary next year??
Well i just wanted to let you all hear about how our favourite Rat appeared in this local parade and brought Christmas cheer to thousands of new and old fans!
For those wanting to know the details.....Chuck appeared in his derby ( YEeeesss!) and yellow sweatshirt. He rode standing up the entire 5 hour trip ( ohhhh my feet...) and waved and gestured to the folks along the parade route.
Sorry, but no photos were taken that night, at least by me. Many took his pic along the street though when he passed. The local newspaper ran a story about the annual parade, but Chuck did not appear.