New Sequim Irrigation Festival float unveiled
The 113th annual Sequim Irrigation Festival royalty boards the freshly rolled-out float Wednesday evening. Princess Persephone Nelson, foreground, along with princesses Melissa Karapostoles, left, Jenae Stratton and queen Jennifer Lancheros are fastening their float-seat belts for 17 processions, including the Irrigation Festival Grand Parade on May 10. -- Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
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"Sail away and discover the treasures of Sequim" is the theme of the 2008 Irrigation Festival float, parade and related revelry — and a brand-new rig, replete with waves and a realistic sailing ship, was unveiled Wednesday night.
The festival's previous float, which appeared in parades around the Pacific Northwest for some 20 years, was destroyed in a fire on Sept. 8.
No one was hurt in the blaze, which broke out in the day-use area of Dosewallips State Park when the float was on its way home from the Hoquiam Loggers' Playday parade.
The cause, firefighters said, was probably an electrical short.
In October, Borden bought a 1985 Ford station wagon for $300, and added a $9,000 trailer onto that; Brad Lato and Allform Welding constructed a frame, and Guy Horton, a festival organizer and sometime Elvis Presley impersonator, designed a realistic sailing ship to fit the theme.
Some 16 weeks hence, the float is fully fledged: 22 feet long, 13 feet high and 13 feet wide.
'Foo-foo party'
A team of 10 decorators gathered around the float last Sunday, in what's called "the foo foo party," said Horton.
"Everybody gets out a staple gun and puts on the real shiny stuff," he said.
"The people who're not handy with a saw or hammer come and staple the fringe on, and put on the petal paper and all the shiny, glimmery stuff."
During the Irrigation Festival Grand Parade up Washington Street on May 10, festival queen Jennifer Lancheros will stand atop the ship; one princess will preside from the deck.
And the coup de grace: Two girls will become mermaids, with tails that move.
"They're going to be all sequined up," Horton said.
"They'll look like they're coming up out of the 'water' like dolphins."
Styx's "Come Sail Away," REO Speedwagon's "Riding the Storm Out," and, of course, the theme from "Gilligan's Island" will pour out of the float's new stereo, said festival publicist Jean Wyatt.
The system was donated by Alan Burwell of McHugh Realtors in Sequim.
Family project
Whole families got together to assemble this float: Kevin Kapetan served as construction coordinator, while his wife, Deon, worked with Horton's wife, Lynn, on its musical soundtrack.
The Kapetans' son, CJ, 16, fitted the trailer with plywood and their daughter, Hailey, 9, was among the exterior decorators.
Borden said the Irrigation Festival committee spent about $3,000 on readying the Ford and trailer for parade competitions, while some $2,000 in labor and parts was donated.
In addition to next month's procession through Sequim, the float will roll through 17 parades this year, starting with two this Saturday: the Daffodil Festival parades in Tacoma and Puyallup.
The float, queen, princesses and their volunteer support team will travel to Port Townsend's Rhododendron Festival on May 17, Victoria Days in Victoria, on May 19, to Forks and Port Angeles for two Fourth of July processions, to Seafair in Seattle on July 26 and the Hoquiam Loggers Playday on Sept. 6.
On Wednesday, Borden and Horton couldn't help swelling with pride in their violet, blue, silver and gold creation.
"We have built a sailing ship. Obviously it won't float," said Borden.
But with the "waves" beneath it and mermaids at the bow, it's the next best thing to sailing.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: April 09. 2008 9:00PM