THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504010244
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH MONROE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Down the glass canyon of Norfolk's Main Street they came. A white Bronco with a bloody glove hanging out the window. A man resembling Sonny Bono - if Sonny would ever pretend to be a hot pepper by sheathing himself in a bright red body stocking.
New Orleans has Fat Tuesday; this was Norfolk's Foolish Friday - the 4th Occasional Doo Dah Parade. It's an annual event to celebrate April Fool's Day, and it was only fitting that this year's Grand Marshal should be Katie McRae, the Doo Dah Dog of Destiny. After all, the entire event is a kind of gigantic stupid pet trick.
Katie, a small white dog dressed in denim, was walked by Festefrog, a large green human-size amphibian. The Please Don't Play It Again, Sam band, directed by the Norfolk Symphony's JoAnn Falletta, murdered some Sousa, and a trio of Elvis impersonators from WLTY Oldies 95.7 radio danced to ``Jailhouse Rock.''
The white Bronco was the brainchild of Waterside Live! They were followed by the Dream Team Lawyers, plastered with money, and Judge Ito carrying a brown envelope which read: ``The Knife, But Don't Tell Anyone.''
The parade kicked off at 12:30 p.m. Friday and included Iona Traylor, the self-styled Queen of Southern Camp, and Little Loco, a small black dog riding a large green skateboard. Traylor was wearing pink hair and green polka-dot capri pants and rodea float featuring tasteful pink flamingo lawn ornaments.
The man in the pepper suit was Terry Ward of the Virginia Beach Pepper Lovers' Club. The group, a previous Doo Dah Parade winner, meets once a month to eat spicy food. About the club, Ward said: ``It was just some guys sitting around a bar eating hot things, but then somehow it got organized.''
A similar explanation could be given for the Doo Dah Parade itself, which was inspired by an Anti-Rose Bowl Parade in California. On Friday, a crowd - estimated by Festevents at 5,000 - lined the route to catch a glimpse of foolishness on parade. The Doo Dah is now a yearly rite of spring complete with a reviewing stand, judges and the not-very-prestigious Fool's Cup for the winners.
This year's winner in the Non-commercial Category was a team from TRT that called itself the Elizabeth River Ferries. These transit employees made a boat float. Female participants, dressed in bell bottoms, swabbed the decks. Men - or extremely large, hairy and unattractive women - wearing blue skirts, fright wigs and jumbo-size bras, strolled alongside. Not only were they politically incorrect, they were also anatomically incorrect.
Tracy Smith, a TRT storeroom supervisor, spoke for the group after learning of the victory. ``We just got together and took six of the weirdest, wildest and silliest people we had and came up with The Ferries. It was right up our alley.'' Another good reason to avoid alleys.
An Honorable Mention in the category went to the Natchel' Blues Network, whose team came dressed as the Blues Brothers.
A brazen attempt was made by The Shop Till You Drop team from Military Circle Mall to influence the judges. They stopped in front of the reviewing stand and handed out packages marked: ``Bribe.''
All to no avail, however. The winner of the Fool's Cup in the Commercial category was The Paper People of The Virginian Pilot and The Ledger Star. The team wore large top hats fashioned of newsprint and had faces painted on their mid-sections, a technique known as squatty bodies. Interviews were complicated by the fact that the team had their heads in their hats and lipstick on their navels.
An Honorable Mention in the Commercial category went to Joe's Job Corps, in which Joe Flanagan of WVEC-TV Channel 13 led a large group of people - all of which were wearing masks of his face. ILLUSTRATION: Zip-a-dee-Doo-Dah
[Color Photos]
MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Staff
Terry Ward of the Virginia Beach Pepper Lovers' Club rejoices in the
revelry during Friday's parade.
Tidewater Regional Transit's great beauties took first honors in the
non-commercial category.
MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Staff
Winners in the commercial category were The Virginian-Pilot and The
Ledger-Star's headless, squat-bodied Doo Dah Parade participants.
by CNB