Sunday, December 28, 2008

King Mango Strut

King Mango Strut
Its a satire parade. I have heard they wanted to be included in the orange bowl celebrations but were turned down so 27 years ago they started this Parade and they are still going strong.

We took the Tri-Rail to the Metro transfer station to Coconut Grove then we walked the rest of the way





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Posted on Sat, Dec. 27, 2008
King Mango Strut parade ready to hit the Grove
By NICHOLAS SPANGLER
Remember that time when everybody's 401(k)s evaporated, the polar ice caps were melting, the fate of the U.S. automobile industry got pinned on electric cars and some guy threw his shoes at the president?

Wasn't that funny?

Some people would say yes, actually, and they are having a parade Sunday in Coconut Grove.

It is the 27th Annual King Mango Strut, conceived and performed by unreconstructed hippie-types who took umbrage at the square-dom and commercialism of the Orange Bowl.

The Strut is not much of a parade, properly speaking. It starts in Commodore Plaza and ends up there again almost immediately, after a dizzying series of sharp left turns.

''We're taking over the street, calling it ours, entertaining 6,000 people,'' said Glenn Terry, art teacher, Herald columnist and Strut organizer. ``It feels real special to be out in the middle of the road, doing whatever you do. Like that Lennon song Why Don't We Do It in the Road. You know that Lennon song? That's a good song.''

This year's grand marshal is a chicken named Mr. Clucky. He will lead a cavalcade of stars including the Mangobama Dancers, the Joe the Plumber Drill Team, Sarah Palin being hunted by a moose, bands of shoe-throwers and Somali pirates who hijack other floats.

Billionaires will plead for charity. Suspiciously young Chinese gymnasts will proclaim their age-eligibility. A professional entertainer named Buzz Fleischman will debut a song he wrote about credit default swaps.

''We hit the mother lode with the presidential election, the state of politics and the economy in general,'' Fleischman said.

The economy may be grist for satirical material but even a counter-cultural quasi-parade needs funding, and Terry warned that there's less of it.

''We went from $42,000 to $28,000,'' he said. ``There'll be fewer cars, bells and whistles.''

This year, as in the past, that money was raised from T-shirt sales and donations from Grove residents and the local business association.

But Terry doubts that model is sustainable, and raised the possibility that the Strut might some day seek commercial sponsorship.

''Could a corporation be cool?'' he asked, and answered in the affirmative.


© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com











We left at 10:30 AM and got home at 7 PM. Just Lina and Me. Mom was feeling puney.

2 comments:

Mel said...

*chuckling*

Gotta love a good sense of humour, eh?

And what a long day of it.
But there was a trainride?!

Gosh, that woulda made the whole day for me!

Linda said...

I must say that it looks like it's very well attended!