A smashing day for the annual Dyngus Day parade, with April showers bringing a unique quality to a parade that some say will someday rival Buffalo’s St. Patty’s Day parades! Judging by some of the outfits, I wonder if a few of the fans were from Buffalo’s Inaugural Easter Bonnet Parade? During the parade I was bombarded with a variety of “gifts” launched from the 175-odd floats, including red and white beads, koozies, ping pong balls, golf balls and even a plastic-wrapped Polish sausage. While scrambling about for the items, firetrucks aimed hoses at the crowd – an action that did not seem like overkill despite the rain (my jeans got soaked but all in good fun)… talk about the world’s largest Dyngus Day squirt gun!
The most creative float was the car with the red and white (what else?) building models of the Central Terminal, Corpus Christi Church and St. Stanislaus on top. Unfortunately the rain required that the models be covered with a clear plastic tarp. The best dressed vehicle award went to the white pickup truck with ‘ginormous’ red polka dots. Speaking of polka, the Cleveland Polka Association made the trip and entered their own float. Another float had mannequin models holding Ukranian beers. It was also nice to see www.buffalowhiskerino.com on hand, whose mission is to grow mustaches for charity (no, not playoff beards). Lots of pink flamingos could be seen, along with one brave soul who marched with the help of a four-wheeled walker. To top it off, the parade featured beer gladiators, kids on bikes and Mr. Dyngus!
Vendors told me their top selling t-shirts were:
It’s not a party until the kielbasa comes out!…
Kiss my dupa I’m Polish!…
I’m Polish and have the kielbasa to prove it!
Buffalo owes a great deal of thanks to Marty Biniasz and Eddy Dobosiewicz: “Your creation just gets bigger and better every year, despite the rainy weather.”
Readers, please do share with us any parade stories or observations.