I am writing this from the foot of a bed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort in Orlando, and I still cannot believe that I am here. We are going to see Butterbeerland tomorrow, and do some serious Sipping and Nibbling with the MiceChatters at Epcot on Friday.
But what about those of you left behind in sunny Southern California? Do not despair – in fact, celebrate. You, including my wonderful husband Noe, have something to hold over our absent heads. You get to witness, and perhaps even take part in, a living piece of not only California, not only Americana, not only Anaheim, but an extremely important piece of Disney History. Plus, it’s really fun, too! Of course, I’m talking about the one and only Anaheim Halloween Parade, almost a hundred years strong!
Jody Daily took some precious time away from painting floats to talk to us about the history of the parade and his work on it with his husband Kevin Kidney and the really strong, enthusiastic involvement of the tight-knit Anaheim community. Jody does have some little bit of experience with parade design. Here’s a sample of a bit of his past parade-related work:
The parade itself was, back in the day, a Disney extravaganza. Walt sent artists to design floats starting back in 1953, and he so loved the small-town charm of the little town of Anaheim that when it came time to find a place away from the big cities to build his Disneyland, Anaheim was naturally one of the places that came to mind, a little bit of Formosa Gardens and Marceline just a relatively short drive from the studio in Burbank.
Daily was kind enough to provide some attached artwork and other things related to Disneyland and the Halloween parade. “Check out the attached artwork of the Disneyland themed floats (including Seal Island representing the early version of”True-Life Adventureland”! The first year Disney got involved was 1953 with several float designs (by Roy Williams) they gave to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. Over the next several years they would participate heavily with costumed characters, floats, one year a large portion of the Electrical Parade was entered, the Mouseketeers putting on a custom show in the La Palma Park stadium and Wally Boag and the whole Golden Horseshoe gang hosting the Pancake Breakfast for quite a few years.”
Anaheim lost its charming downtown to development in the 1970s, and squared, featurelss bank and medical buildings dominated the once-charming main streets of the city. When Disney changed regimes, the parade fell by the wayside; it wasn’t Hollywood enough for the studio-centered new blood. Within a decade, Disney’s involvement went from dozens of characters and floats to a single appearance by Cruella DeVil, riding in a volunteer’s car.
Then, a few years back, there was a sea change in the community. Daily describes it: “We weren’t like other cities around here that still had their old downtowns. We knew what we had lost, and in a way we were lucky, because it tied us together, that sense of loss.” There was a new sheriff in town with Kevin Kidney heading up the Anaheim Historical Society, and the first thing they duo did was dig up Andy Anaheim, the city’s old mascot, designed by Disney:
The Packing House and Packing District are wonderful places to go now, and there really is a strong sense of community (and the frozen hot chocolate is incredible). Of course, the traditional parade was next. It had devolved into school bands and classic cars with little or no Halloween to it.
The first thing they brought back was the Flying Sasser (yes it was really called a “Sasser”). Then the Rocket Witch. Every year, more and more classics return, using the original plans, most from the pencils of Disney artists on Walt’s orders.
If you want to be part of this, you can. Go see the parade this Saturday. Check out the floats. Some of them were designed by Disney legends. Find out how you can get in there with a hammer and paintbrush and get more of them built, starting this January. It takes a long time to make a really cool parade float when it’s all volunteers. Here’s the parade route.
If you need me, I’ll be at Florian Fortescue’s with Jim and Alice Hill tomorrow, and at Epcot the next day, though I couldn’t help a quick stop on the way from the airport (thanks Tim), because it had been 19 years.
I don’t even care how terrible I look in that picture. I’m looking at Spaceship Earth in my phone and it’s real.
Hope to see you this week in Orlando if you’re out here. If you go to the parade, say hi to my hubby and tell him I miss him. Also, thanks for all of your support. I couldn’t have gotten out here without it, and I already have stuff for about three series. Yay! To support Fab News, just click on one of the banners below.
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