Centennial Parade

[Doug Loudenback]

I thought it was a great parade ... not without shortcomings ... but great just the same. I'll explain my reasons later today when I have time and will post a few pics. I've started an article which contains many images but it's not done:

Doug Dawgz Blog: Oklahoma Centennial Parade 2

[kmf563]

I'll have to agree with Parksgal's dad on this one. Very uneventful and not organized very well. If they wanted to interview the celebrities, they should have done so before or after the parade...not during. Caused too many blank moments. If you plan and spot things right - even when the bands stop to perform they shouldn't create spaces in the overall parade. There were two exciting parts to the parade - Billy Simms screaming Boomer to the crowd, and the guy getting arrested on the sidelines for having weapons. The only band that could march and perform simultaneously was Langston. Even the people in the parade looked bored. How much money was spent on this?

[Karried]

We were sitting in front of where they were interviewing the celebs and it was hard to hear anything at all. I think that they really did this more to televise the event, rather than cater to the people lining the streets.

Even the little Edmond parade has tons of clowns on bikes and little cars ( crazy drivers ) but the kids love that kind of stuff.... I was imagining something like a Disney parade or a more entertaining event.

Hey, it was free and I'm not trying to be really negative about it.. it wasn't lousy or anything.. it was just a disappointment and I agree kmf563.. I was wondering how much money was spent... I'm sure wayyy toooo much!

[BDP]

To be fair, I think it's pretty hard to make a parade interesting, especially for the entire length of the parade. I think they're way overrated to begin with, and unless it has anything special or unique to it (like maybe the rocketman jumping off the First Interstate building or Matthew Broderick lip syncing Beatles tunes ), they're all pretty boring, imo.

Not everyone likes a parade.

[metro]

I agree with both the good and bad comments about the parade, etc. I think in all honestly, Blake Wade and Centennial Commission did a fair job, but really failed at making the Centennial a "wow" event that it should have been.

[Express Girl]

I was fairly disappointed with the parade. There were some large gaps in between floats and stuff. My son was bored 30 min into it and he normally loves parades.

maybe I just chose a poor location...

[jbrown84]

Ouch ouch ouch.

You guys are harsh. I don't really know what people were expecting, but I thought it was pretty grand. I was at the end, so it was pretty spread out at places, but overall I thought it was good and the opening number on TV was impressive.

[Doug Loudenback]

It appears as though everyone is content with their opinion(s) and that's fine by me ... have no interest in debate about whether the parade was good or not, although I obviously thought it was quite good and I would go again. The parade was largely paid for by the Noble Foundation as well as by other corporate donors. So ... no worries ... the free parade only cost those of you that were displeased a misspent afternoon, and, of course, gas & parking, possibly broken hearts and missing some cool TV programs!

I've finished posting about 100 or more parade images in my blog ... I broke them into 2 parts because of the length ... so if anyone wants a look ... (the blog powers that be advise that all Blogspot blogs may be done for maintenance at 4 pm Pacific time today) ...

The 1st part covers (1) people, (2) airplanes, (3) bands, and (4) cars: Doug Dawgz Blog: Oklahoma Centennial Parade 2

The 2nd part covers (5) Horses, (6) Walkers, and (7) Baloons & Floats: Doug Dawgz Blog: Centennial Parade 2A

I've not added much descriptive text yet, but here are my "Doug Dawgz Best of Class" or something like that:

(1) Best "Person At The Parade" ... of the 175,000, well, that would have to be my wife, wouldn't it! She is on the knoll across from the garage where I was mainly located when I took parade pictures ...

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...ade_wife01.jpg



(2) Best "aircraft" ... no contest between the helicopters and this guy ...

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...aircraft02.jpg



(3) Best "band" ... the Broken Arrow High School Band ... these guys have won national and state awards and it showed ... a band with an attitude ... chins & chests out, fists clinched, no nonsense faces ...

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...de_band06a.jpg



Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...de_band06b.jpg



Very honorable mention ... The Langston Band point group

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...ade_band05.jpg



(4) Best Car

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...de_cars_03.jpg



(5) Best Horses -- Budweiser Clydesdales

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...e_horses08.jpg



(6) Best Walkers -- The Heart Hostpital People ... what a hoot!

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49..._walkers09.jpg



(7) Best Float/Baloon

Larger pic: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...e_float21a.jpg



I surely would like to have seen Rocket Man come out of the top of this at the end, and the closing song & dance ... as well as the very opening events ... but parades just don't work that way ... unless they are exceptionally short ... or unless you're content with TV ... do they? I was pleased that 175,000 or so (according to the Oklahoman & Tulsa World) showed up ... had to get out some extra plates, I guess ... I think that only 100,000 or so were expected for dinner! I walked most of the route before settling down in the Broadway/Kerr Parking Garage ... it's in the 1st of the blog posts.

[Karried]

Great pics Doug... I love the Stealth Bomber!

You didn't miss much regarding Rocket Man.. we sat right in front of where they were interviewing celebs and the mic was on the announcer but you couldn't hear the answers.. ie James Garner and astronauts.. you could hear the singers pretty well.

Rocketman was really loud but it lasted all of about 2 seconds.. so it was okay but you didn't miss much there. It was a lot longer in the Rose Bowl I believe or maybe it just looked really cool on TV.

Like I said, I can't really complain .. it was a free parade, my fault I think for having too high expectations, more than anything.

[fromdust]

How much money was spent on this?

whatever the cost, i think most of it was spent on the stealth bomber. ha! sad, sad.

[kmf563]

great pics Doug!

[kevinpate]

missed the parade, saw the bomber from where i was hanging out for the day down south shields way. Picked me outta my spot and onto the front walk in a shake or two. was fun to watch, more so to suddenly realize how quiet the sucker is.

[Doug Loudenback]

Thanks, kmf563 ... I'll post some of the float pics below ...

Larger pic at http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...e_float01a.jpg



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[Karried]

WOW.. seen from above it looks better!

Maybe I should have gone up somewhere.

[Doug Loudenback]

You're spoiled by TV!

[metro]

Thanks Doug. I'll try to post some of my pics as well. I was by the Colcord so I had it and First National in the background of my pics. What I don't understand, is where were all the Oklahoma floats that we used in the Rose Bowl parade earlier this year?

[Doug Loudenback]

Might as well go ahead and post the bands I took, too.

Larger pic at http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...de_band00a.jpg



Larger pic at http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49...de_band00b.jpg



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There were one or two that I didn't get pics of.

[karlanee]

We started watching it on OETA and only lasted about 10 minutes. That opening number was so incredibly hokie it was embarrassing. I'm so glad we didn't waste the time and the effort to go down there.

The parade being so underwhelming sort of sums up this entire Centennial project. This thing could have been so exciting - the entire year should have been filled with fun things to do - like highlighting a different state attraction each month with a special admission price, or turning the state fair this year into a sort of world's fair for the state with a different attraction from each county, and maybe a new fabulous "monument" or something to remember the year by. There are so many other ideas that would have been great if someone had just thought things through better, and it wouldn't have had to cost a lot.

Having this parade in October may have meant it was on a weekend but it also means the actual Centennial Day is likely to be just another day of the year and nothing special.

[jbrown84]

Oh I'm so tired of hearing the complaints.

It was held in October so it wouldn't be FREEZING people.

I'd like to see you plan an entire year's worth of events that satisfy everyone. Impossible.

[karlanee]

Jbrown - the problem is there hasn't been an "entire year's worth of events" - or if there have been they've not been publicized much at all - that's my point about that. The Macy's parade is in November and people don't seem to mind freezing to see that one. While I realize that ours was no Macy's parade, I still think people would have gone to see it.

Seriously - how hard would it have been to have something special at the state fair this year, or even have the Tourism department highlight a different attraction each month that highlights our history. It would have been so easy to make this more of a celebration - that's all I'm saying.

[Doug Loudenback]

karlanee, to each his/her own. But about 200,000 watching the parade (street, hotels, garages combined) 1st hand when only about 100,000 were projected ain't too shabby, in my book.

[jbrown84]

Jbrown - the problem is there hasn't been an "entire year's worth of events" - or if there have been they've not been publicized much at all - that's my point about that. The Macy's parade is in November and people don't seem to mind freezing to see that one. While I realize that ours was no Macy's parade, I still think people would have gone to see it.

Seriously - how hard would it have been to have something special at the state fair this year, or even have the Tourism department highlight a different attraction each month that highlights our history. It would have been so easy to make this more of a celebration - that's all I'm saying.

That's what I'm saying. If you had gone to Travelok.com or the centennial website or looked at Oklahoma Today or a number of other publications, you would have seen that there were indeed events throughout the year designated as Centennial events--in all the little towns across the state.

A lot of things were done and a lot of monuments put in place to mark the Centennial. I'm sorry they didn't fit exactly into how you would have done it, but we can't please everyone, as this thread will attest. I for one like the clocks and the fountain in Bricktown and thought the parade was very well done with a few minor nitpicks.

[PUGalicious]

Well, that's two people that liked it... well worth the cost...

Travelok.com... centennial website... Oklahoma Today... wow! I don't know how anyone might have missed such wide publicity.

[John]

What I don't understand, is where were all the Oklahoma floats that we used in the Rose Bowl parade earlier this year?

The floats in the Rose Parade are made entirely of natural materials (mainly flowers), so I'm sure the pretty parts of the float are in someones garden as compost.

I'm sure the cost of transporting/storing the float structures were cost prohibitive.

I wish there could have been a grand finale float similar to one of the ones in the Rose Parade, though.

[Misty]

I watched parts of the parade on OETA and my thoughts were “this is a pretty good parade for Oklahoma”. It would have been nice to say “this is a pretty good parade” without the “for Oklahoma” and not have the low expectations I think too many of us have accepted for too long. Things have come a LONG, LONG way in the past 10 years, but in order to keep growing and improving we need to have high expectations of ourselves and our city and state leaders, planners and event organizers. There have been many events I’ve attended that I have been disappointed in and there have been many recently that my thoughts have been “not bad for OKC” however that would translate to “below standard” for a lot of other places. I think the vocal criticism is GREAT. Citizens of Oklahoma need to stand up and stop settling for mediocrity. We live in a great city with HUGE potential and in order to reach it we all need to demand nothing but the best. I look forward to the day that I never have to hear “what did you expect, this IS Oklahoma” ever again and instead hear “of course it was great, this is OKLAHOMA!”