Bands step lively for parade lovers

Thousands gather for the Festival of States event, which was bigger than last year's, although with fewer marching bands.

[Times photo: Jamie Francis] Kathie Panariso helps a trumpeter in the Pueblo County (Colo.) High School band stay cool Saturday in St. Petersburg.

By MELANIE AVE

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Shirtless and shoeless, Glenn Parks may have had the best seat in the house Saturday for the 79th annual Festival of States parade. And he didn't even know it until he woke up.

After watching the Tampa Bay Devil Rays home opener Friday night, Parks found himself stuck in St. Petersburg because bus service to his home in Clearwater had ended an hour before the game was over. So he wandered to Straub Park and hung his hammock between two palm trees on Bayshore Drive.

"This is really cool," the 44-year-old said Saturday, lounging in the shade behind four-deep rows of people, the bay waters behind him, the parade stretched out before him. "I have seen some really cool floats and good bands. When I see a band coming, I take my headphones off. And the detail on some of those floats is amazing."

Beneath a cloudless blue sky on an 80-degree day, thousands of people like Parks lined Central Avenue and Bayshore Drive to hear the pounding rhythms of marching bands, see the splendor of elaborate floats and maybe snatch a few strands of colorful beads.

"What you got to do is put your beads in your pocket and say you don't have any," said 12-year-old Nikita Dixon, demonstrating her prowess by showing a ball cap loaded with dozens of purple, gold, silver and white plastic necklaces.

"Oh, yeah," she added, "look sad and they'll give you some."

The TradeWinds Resort Parade is the highlight of the two-week festival, which ends Sunday with an arts and crafts show at Straub Park and is organized by the Suncoasters civic group. While this year's parade was larger than last -- 116 total entries compared with 76 in 1999 -- the number of bands was down from 17 last year to 10 this year.

This year also was the first time in three decades the festival had only one out-of-state band -- Pueblo County (Colo.) High School -- after several dropped out at the last minute.

That disappointed St. Petersburg resident Henry Simmons, who comes to the parade every year. He sat along Central Avenue with his two children, wife and mother-in-law and remembered the throngs of people who turned out last year to see the Florida A&M University band.

"I think the bands are what make the Festival of States parade," he said. "Lately, I don't think they have enough bands. If they could get just one well-known band, it'd be a lot better."

While Betsy Bailey of St. Petersburg also enjoys the bands the most -- she always wanted to be a drummer -- she said she didn't notice a decline. In fact, she labeled this year's parade as the best she's seen in 11 years.

"It's awesome," Bailey said. "I don't think you ever get too old to enjoy a parade."

The parade was a rich slice of small-town Americana, with the laughter of children mixing with the smell of funnel cakes. There were painted-face clowns throwing Hershey Kisses to the crowd. And a Medal of Honor winner riding in a cherry-red Mustang convertible.

Even the politicians were well-received, as bystanders shouted, "Atta boy!" to Mayor David Fischer, who rode by and waved.

And for those whose heads were pounding, there were free samples of Motrin being passed out by workers such as Tracey Willett, who roamed through the crowds with a satchel filled with small packages of pain relievers.

"People will need it by the end of the parade with all that loud music," she said, shoving three samples into hand after hand.

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