Rocking, tooting parade
rouses Dade City

[Times photo: Dan McDuffie] Riders scream as they are turned upside down in the Space Loop at the county fair on State Road 52 in Dade City on Tuesday. Hundreds of people began lining Dade City's streets with lawn chairs and blankets as early as 9 a.m. Tuesday for the parade that serves as the kickoff event for the Heart of Florida Fair, which continues through Sunday.

Led by the sheriff and his mounted posse, the parade includes Edwinola residents in their white rockers atop a float.

By AMY ELLIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2000

DADE CITY -- For the first time in years, LeAnne Webb and her sister, Lori Harris, watched from the sidelines as marching bands and firetrucks made their way downtown for the annual Pasco County Fair parade.

Most years, they're busy waving to spectators and tossing candy to the crowds with their father, state Rep. Ken Littlefield, R-Dade City.

"He's got meetings in Tallahassee, so we're sitting this one out," said Webb, 30, who parked her green pickup near the intersection of Meridian and Seventh avenues to view the Shriner cars and horse-drawn buggies. "This is kind of nice."

Hundreds of people began lining the streets with lawn chairs and blankets as early as 9 a.m. for the parade, the kickoff event for the county fair, which runs through Sunday.

Led by Sheriff Lee Cannon and his mounted posse, the parade was a moving montage of life in east Pasco, with ballerinas in sequined leotards and truckloads of hay bales and timber logs.

Residents of the Edwinola, an assisted living facility downtown, sat atop a float in their white rockers, some lifting hand weights, others clutching beads and candy for the children.

Angelina Parrino, 5, scrambled forward to scoop up packets of Sweet Tarts and bubble gum. Her mother, Dee Parrino, had to coax her youngest, Rosalia, 3, to grab her share. "She's so shy," said Parrino, who drove from Darby with her neighbor, Janet Dykes. Dykes, meanwhile, was keeping an eye out for her grandchildren, Stacey Potts, 7, and Justin Potts, 11, who rode on the 4-H Club float, which was decorated with green and white balloons.

"That's my grandson on the drums," Dykes said to anyone within earshot. Across the street, another proud grandma, Doris Kerr of Land O'Lakes, waved and cheered as the students from Sanders Elementary passed, surrounded by palm fronds and leopard skins, singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

"I've got four with me and one in the parade," Kerr said. "This is not a bad way to spend the day."

If you go

Admission to the 53rd annual Pasco County Fair is $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 6-12. Children younger than 6 are admitted free. Parking is $1. Today's hours are 3-11 p.m. The fair has a Web site with more information: http://www.pascocountyfair.org.

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