Parade Day!

[Tom S.]

Today my pals and I are going to ride in the local St. Patrick's Day Parade. We've done this several times, but missed the last couple of years because I went to the motorcycle races at Daytona. I stayed home this year so we could do this again and continue the tradition.

It started w/my buddy and I just riding in circles along the parade route. Then we grew to a team of six riders. This year there are ten of us. We do formation tricks just like the police dept's drill team. It's hilarious. Our signature trick is the "Counter Rotating Circle of Death", where we form into concentric circles going in opposite directions. No one has crashed, but we do click bars and knees pretty often. We'll get some minis into the program in the future, but for know we're on small motorcycles. The partial list includes; Honda MB5, a pair of Honda C70s, Yamaha PW80, Honda Z50, Honda NC50 Express, Honda CB125, and more.

Here's a video and photo from a few years ago. Our photographer is riding with us this year, so we might not get a lot of photos to share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15_NWslmGbY

 

[byron ness]

That looks like a really fun day!

 

[RobertC]

Cool Tom !

Thanks for sharing that.

You all have fun, and happy St Patricks Day !

 

[Tom S.]

Everyone had a wonderful time at yesterday's 40th annual Murphy's Furniture St. Patrick's Day Parade. We won the Most Irish Vehicle prize for our collective decorating job on ten motorcycles. It's the second time we've won a prize in about six tries. We also outnumbered the police drill team this year. The fellow who has taken photos and video for us in the past rode on the team this year so I only have some before and after pics.

The parade starting point is only about six or eight blocks away from my house, so we just ride over to it and practice our tricks along the way. We missed the worst of the rain, but it was still a wet ride. There was a pretty good turnout of participants and spectators despite the weather. And for the first time this year they had a reviewing stand w/announcer and the whole thing was caught on video. I'll look for a link. When we got back to my house my wife had made a big corned beef lunch for everyone.

A big part of the fun is tossing candy to the kids along the parade route. Three or four of our bikes had big buckets of candy and it was flying everywhere. After the ride I found a melty Lifesaver stuck to my scooter.

 

[RobertC]

Congratulations on the award Tom !! :thumbsup:

I bet that was a blast.

Looking forward to seeing the video.

 

[YOOP]

Looks like fun Tom.

 

[Richard Trotter]

Happy St Patricks day

 

[pyro513]

My Top Hat's off too ya!!

Dale

 

[pyro513]

oops, sorry about the size

 

[Tom S.]

Well, it's that time of year again. Tomorrow my pals and I will get together to practice our routine for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day parade in my town. This year there will be nine of us riding. For the first time we may have my Lil Indian and/or Fimco minis in the parade.

 

[neo71665]

I love parades, I normally drive the brush truck for the fire dept so riding a mini is out for me. I get my fun with the sirens and air horns driving down main street, lol. They haven't let us do it in years but the kids had the biggest blast when we would park at the end and let them climb on the trucks, fire the smaller hoses off, and try to put on a set of turnouts. I think they were afraid it was overshadowing the actual parade.

 

[Raskin]

Looks like a nice time..:thumbsup:

 

[steven Durham]

Hi Tom I wish I could see the parade. Is it still tied up with Murphy's Furniture store ? There was a very cute sales girl there that was a rider of Moto Cross. I bought things from the store. Had Corn beef & Cabbage last night for dinner so I am Irish too. Good luck with the drill team

 

[Tom S.]

We had a good parade practice this morning and spent a couple of hours rehearsing our moves. We started on foot and then moved to the bikes. No real rain, and we got a smile and a wave from the one police officer who passed by. Two people cancelled, so there were just seven of us. There's a chance that two more might join us. Our routines work best in a group that divides evenly by three.

 

[owend]

That looks like a blast Tom!

 

[joebiodiesel]

This looks like a hoot! Thanks for sharing this, and posting all the pics. I love how you re-thought the bribing of judges on your routine card. It's obvious you're having a good time at it.

Joe

 

[Tom S.]

Hi Tom I wish I could see the parade. Is it still tied up with Murphy's Furniture store ? There was a very cute sales girl there that was a rider of Moto Cross...

I wish that you could be here to see it. Murphy's still puts it on, and it benefits the Boys & Girls Club.

This looks like a hoot! Thanks for sharing this, and posting all the pics. I love how you re-thought the bribing of judges on your routine card. It's obvious you're having a good time at it.
Joe

Thanks. The judges are a group of school kids who examine all of the entries before the parade starts. We have baskets of candy on the bikes to toss to the crowd. A couple of years ago, one one of our riders had his pockets full of new Hot Wheels cars to throw, too. When the judges came around we made sure that they all got candy and Hot Wheels. We received a nice trophy. The following year the organizers told us to knock it off. :laugh:

 

[Tom S.]

Another rainy parade this year. It poured right up until we started moving. But we still had tons of fun and there was a good turnout of participants and spectators. I rode my Fimco mini. The first photo is a shot of my group.

 

[Tom S.]

They put a photo of us in the newspaper tonight.

St. Patrick's Day parade brightens Hillsboro (photos) | OregonLive.com

 

[Havasu Dave]

:thumbsup: Looks wet. I see the late model Mopar guys were out, and couldn't help but to notice the 68 Newport. :laugh: I enjoy your photos and escapades as always Tom. Thanks for sharing them.