By Wendy Cai

   

For residents, floats are not just flatbed trucks with a decoration here or there, or people waving and riding in a car wearing funny hats. These floats, assembled by residents and rigorously planned, designed and decorated, are true works of art that require months of hard work.  Whole neighborhoods and entire streets come together for this event year after year.

 

“This is the one event a year that everyone comes home for.  Even if they don’t come for Christmas, people come home for this,” says Lissa Wade, member of the UACA and this year’s float chair.

 

The City of Upper Arlington is known for its amazing 4^th of July celebration activities. The day starts with a 7 a.m. wake up call, symbolizing Paul Revere’s ride during the Revolutionary War. 

 

Members of the Upper Arlington Civic Association (UACA) ride throughout the community neighborhoods, announcing the start of the Independence Day celebration. The call is followed by the parade down Northwest Boulevard, and then a Party in the Park. The night concludes with a grand celebration and fireworks at Northam Park.

 

All of this may sound like a pretty typical 4^th of July celebration, however, the yearly float competition starts months before these activities, all the way back in April, when the initial “Float-Builders Workshop” is held.  There, residents that consider entering a float in the parade can pose questions to the panel of past float builders. This session is integral to the success of each float, as past float builders can provide a wealth of knowledge to steer newcomers in the right direction. From there, groups come together to brainstorm and ultimately pin down an idea that fits into each years’ theme.

 

The theme this year is “Buckeye 4^th of July” and the Grand Marshal is Dr. Jon R. Woods, The Ohio State University Marching Band director.    

 

Building a float is no easy feat.  While residents of Fairfax Road and Guilford Road are consistent participants in the parade, organizers say that most other streets or neighborhoods don’t have representation because building each float is such a massive undertaking.

To encourage residents to build floats each year, the UACA offers a $500 reimbursement to each float entry to help with overhead costs. Also, church and service organization floats get a $150 reimbursement. 

 

Entering a float also means entering a contest.  There are five categories of floats:  Class Reunion, Youth (sports, cheerleaders, scouts, etc.), Service Organization, First Time Entry and Neighborhood.  The list of awards includes Overall Best of Parade, Most Representative of Theme, Most Patriotic, Best Design and Craftsmanship and Most Entertaining.  The winners of these awards receive street signs indicating their victory.

 

Fairfax Road residents began entering their floats in 2006.

 

“Prior to 2006, a few of us had talked about doing a float, but when the Easton family moved onto our street, Scott Easton became the catalyst that made it happen,” says resident Paul Boyer. 

 

Easton even found an old (but working) school bus for $500.  Together, the neighbors took on the task of “decapitating” the school bus. They removed the roof and windows, and sold all of the scrap metal to a salvage company for $520, according to Boyer.

 

Since, the bus has served as the base for the Fairfax Road float.

 

Boyer says the secret to a successful float-building experience lies in four key ingredients:  “A nutcase who is crazy enough or passionate enough to make the calls to find a used school bus; a point person who is handy with tools and really knows how to design and build an infrastructure that won’t endanger those who ride on the float; someone who keeps everyone positive and constantly boosts the morale of all involved; and a reliable cadre of workers with the ‘get ‘er done’ attitude who will find some way to make a contribution, whether it's pounding nails, painting, sewing costumes, selecting music, making signs or props, or decorating bicycles.”

 

Even the most experienced of float builders can run into problems, however, and Boyer and the Fairfax crew are no exception.

 

“I recall Easton heading to Meijer at 4 a.m. on July 4^th to buy a new battery so the bus would start,” says Boyer.  “Then there was the rainy parade in 2006 where the water disabled our CD player.  We’ve since run our sound from an iPod.”

 

While Fairfax Road is fairly new to the float scene, some neighborhoods have been doing it for much longer.  The 179-home neighborhood of Westwood Acres has been building floats for the parade for 36 consecutive years.  A dozen families or so usually participate each year.  Some of their best floats have included their Miss America, Melting Pot and Abraham Lincoln themes. 

 

Winning it all takes much more than an amazing float, however.  Residents also wear costumes to match the floats and choreograph dance routines to perform for the judges.  The themes may vary from year to year, but the hard work and dedication that UA residents put into their floats and parade never waivers.

 

“I grew up in our nation’s capital and none of the suburbs there had anything close to as good as our 4^th of July parade,” says Wade. 

 

Wendy Cai is a contributing writer for Upper Arlington Magazine.