Monday, May 01, 2006
Post-Revolutionary Shad
The Fish Who Shadded Me…
A year or three ago, our family started attending a local (and national, if you fish for shad) event known as the…
Forks of the Delaware
Shad Fishing Tournament and Festival
This year happened to be the 24th Annual. In addition to serious shad fishing (with serious prize money - the winner took away $1500!) there are activities for the whole family. A friend of ours turned us on to the Doo Dah Parade, the Shad Festival's version of a more famous Doo Dah Parade (who knew?) Look here: http://www.pasadenadoodahparade.com/ or perhaps, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo_Dah_Parade
In a word or three, just a little bit of irreverent fun. In our family's case, something to do together, and this year, a little serendipity and karma.
Here' what happened. About a week ago, we realized the Shad Festival was upon us. Fortunately for us, the Doo Dah Parade does not necessarily entail any serious preparation. By Saturday, the eve of the parade, we realized we had still not done any preparation, let alone register or figure out any of the essential facts, like when and where the parade would occur. We spent Saturday much as do any other warm-weather Satudary -- shopping at yard sales. We randomly worked our way over to Easton by way of the The Michaels & Layne Longest Yard Sale (look here: http://www.999thehawk.com/index.cfm?do=michaels_layne ), lunch @ Fuddrucker's ( http://www.fuddruckers.com/ ) and arriving at last in Easton at Scott Park, where most of the shad festivities occur…
(One of my longer preambles!)
We wandered near the "weigh-in" station to inquire after the Doo Dah Parade. As luck would have it, the woman at the desk pointed and said "The woman you need to talk to is right over there, the blonde woman with the blue shirt." I remarked haplessly to the kids that we had to go see the "blue-haired lady over there." When we got over there, Calvin questions: "Are you the blue-haired lady??"
After some momentary confusion, I asked about the parade, and sure enough, she was the one to talk to! She even had a few registration forms. She and her hubby had just stopped in the park for a break, and we had happened upon the park at just the right time. Serendipity!
So we registered for the "Oh Baby!" division. We were asked for a theme (shad not mandatory) and settled upon babies & dinosaurs. We departed for home, with our mission before us. After some deliberation, we arrived and cave people and dinosaurs, opting for cuteness and feasibility over scientific accuracy. By Sunday noon, we had slapped together two wagons -- one with a dino hatching out of its egg, one with a volcano, palm tree and nest of dino eggs. We were dead last in the parade, but it was a great walk. Nice weather. No tired legs on the kids -- Nicky, our 16month-old (and our ticket to the baby division) rode in a cave-dweller-fashion draped backpack.
While the judges tallied their votes (we were one of two registered baby units), we chowed on Tall Cedars hot dogs and bottled water. Then came the announcement -- the winner of the "Oh Baby!" division was our family!! The Blue-Haired Lady asked for our entry's theme once more, and I blurted out (as I had when we past the reviewing stand) "Post-Evolutionary Shad" (for those of you who care, I would guess the shad were here before the dinosaurs, what with being fish and all). This was communicated as "Post-Revolutionary Shad" which, when you think about it, is probably much funnier. Calvin and Davida went forth to claim the trophy. This was a moment of triumph for Calvin -- he was very disappointed last year when our SpongeBob-themed entry for "Under the Sea" went unrecognized. For the next 20 minutes, you could not have hoped to pry that trophy away from him. He even set up a little Doo Dah shrine in his wagon.
So quite a string of events -- yard sales to lunch to part to blue-haired lady to theme to wagons to trophy. All of it fell into place, quite by fortunate accident.
So I have become a card-carrying member of the Post-Revolutionary Shad Movement. Be on the lookout for us - we'll be the fishy-looking ones.
