Throngs of locals and tourists flooded into Round Pond July 4, sitting on stone walls, blankets and lawn chairs or standing to watch (or occasionally join) the famously irreverent Round Pond parade.
The parade is well known for its inventive entries, including the lighthearted as well as those with relatively stern sociopolitical agendas. BP, the company responsible for the ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, took the brunt of the satire this year. Other popular targets included President Barack Obama, former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and the conservative political movement known as the Tea Party.
The participants say it’s all in fun. Mick Devin, District 51 candidate for the Maine house, rode a unicycle and carried a placard to promote his campaign. “I don’t think there are a lot of candidates that can ride a unicycle,” Devin said. Devin said he learned to ride at the age of 12, but before deciding to join the parade, he hadn’t touched one in 25 years.
Devin survived the parade unhurt. His success on the unicycle, Devin said, will translate into the public arena. “I’m well balanced,” said the Newcastle Democrat. “I have unique solutions.”
Paul Wolf, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, plays washboard for The Manic Mountain Boys All-Star Bluegrass Band. The “Boys” are parade veterans, Wolf said, enough so they can’t be bothered to speak the event’s full name. “We call it the ropofojupa,” Wolf said.
The eccentric ensemble appeared to fit in well at the parade. “This is a social group, not a band. It’s a state of mind,” Wolf said. As Wolf explained the group’s mission, other members of the band gave their own interpretations.
“We hate drinking alone so we drink together,” one said.
“For some of us it’s therapy,” Wolf said.
“Some of us are in the witness protection program,” another said.
Alongside the parade route, at least one entrepreneur found a way to capitalize on the festivities. Crystal Miller sold an entire jar of homemade cookies at her old-fashioned “Lemon Aid” stand.
Miller made the cookies and lemonade and, after the pre-parade rush, still had time to enjoy the floats, she said.
“It was hot and heavy before the parade,” neighbor and self-appointed “advisor to the lemonade stand” Kathleen Horst said. “She had them lined up.”
At the end of the parade route, a man busy dismantling one of the satirical floats said the creators had no particular agenda in mind. “It’s all just foolishness,” he said.
Nearby, however, an older man, who requested anonymity, identified himself as the mastermind of the float, which he called “Obama in Wonderland: Down the Foxhole.”
“We had about 15 agendas,” he said. “We were doing our usual slander of politicians.” The float included caricatures of Palin and Obama as well as former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney. “25 years I’ve been in this,” the man said.
The Tacky Tourists are another staple at the parade. The loose collective of about eight “Tourists” march with folding lawn chairs. At intervals, and on the command of their “fearless leader,” Bob Erickson, they conduct a military-style drill, unfolding, presenting and briefly resting in the chairs.
“We’ve been doing this for many, many years,” Erickson said. One of many similar “lawn chair brigades” nationwide, the Tourists do it for pure fun, but only once a year. “There’s only one Round Pond Parade,” Erickson said.
