Published: July 07, 2009 06:45 am      

Festival floats are a royal task

School floats are usually built by the parents

TRAVERSE CITY -- Gather some friends and pull out the fringe; it's float-making time.

Parents and students across the region have been up to their eyeballs in parade preparations since April. All their work will float down Front and Union streets on Thursday at the Junior Royale Parade and again Saturday at the Cherry Royale Parade during the National Cherry Festival.

Katie Burnham's daughter Jordan is the princess on the Blair Elementary School float. Jordan has asked: "Do we have to smile and wave the whole time?"

"Yes, yes you do," Burnham replied.

But before the parades, there's the preparation. More than two dozen area schools will enter a float in the Cherry Festival parades. This year's theme is heroes and heroines, and each school has a prince and princess to ride on their float. The task of building the rolling displays often falls on the families of the little royals.

"Usually it's most of the parents that do it. They actually form a committee," said Junior Royale Parade Director Nick Lemcool.

Lemcool was a prince on a Central Grade School float during his school days.

"It's a long time to wave," he recalled.

Now, as the director he enjoys "seeing all the floats come together."

Last week, the Cherry Knoll Elementary School float crew planned to put the finishing touches and fringe on their float hailing the explorers. It features a "Christopher Columbus-style boat" with a sail, explained parent Michelle Fiebing.

"We have had huge parent support from the first-grade class, so that has been just fabulous," she said.

The Blair float honors the heroism of moms and dads. Translating the theme into a float turned out to be a tougher task than what the creators initially thought. The workers looked to the youngsters for inspiration.

"We went, and we talked to all of the first-graders at Blair Elementary and asked them what made their moms and dads heroes," Burnham said.

The responses highlight the simple things: Parents keep children safe, take them camping and provide for kids' basic needs. With those ideas, the float took shape as a house with a front yard and back yard with a camping scene.

All the hard work of parents and students will be on display at the 6:30 p.m. Thursday Junior Royale Parade and again for the 11:15 a.m. Saturday start of the Cherry Royale Parade.