We are counting down to the Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade with a look back at the floats we’ve had over the years. The first one dates all the way back to 2006 when we decided at the parade’s annual fundraiser to answer a call to participate. The genesis of our involvement was Guinness inspired and spearheaded by myself, BobG and Anthony P. While we probably aren’t the brain trust one would expect to engineer such a concept we did pull things together and with a little chicken wire, hula hoops, newspaper, green paint and a trailer.
The first float was an experiment and a guess because none of us knew what we were doing. It is my favorite among some very good floats and very well thought out ideas that followed. As we’ve become more of an institution in the parade it remains one of my favorite memories. We had a great group of riders and it was a first for most of us.
Over the years we’ve made changes but one thing remains constant. We’re still chasing what made this float great.
The first two floats were the end of the ARTMUSIClife era and were themed accordingly. The hope was to drive more traffic to the online community. The reality was closer to who really sees a domain name in a parade and visits the site? Not many people unfortunately. Maybe we should have tried for a Superbowl commercial.
