2013 Lilac Parade

It's lilac time on Mackinac and the highlight of the season (besides the glorious lilacs) is the Lilac Parade!

The leader of the parade is always Don Andress, a descendant of Chief Mackinac.

We have beauty queens, including the Lilac Queen, Princess and court:

Pretty horses:

Bands of all types:

Decorated floats:

 

Walking entries (no cars, of course!):

Including clowns:

And bikes too!:

 

Even the bike riding street sweepers:

And the grand finale is always the Scottville Clown Band, doing a raucous bump and grind the length of the parade route:

It's a great parade, with certain traditions but always with a bit of a twist - come join us next year!

Everyone Loves a Parade

Really - who doesn't love a parade?

Mackinac Island's annual Lilac Festival always ends with a grand parade and that parade is always led by Don "Duck" Andress, a direct descendant of Chief Mackinac.

Interpreters from Fort Mackinac also participate, fife and drums playing all the way.

Several service organizations are represented, including future service dogs (the puppies are so cute!) and Greythounds of Eastern Michigan , a greyhound rescue group. Greyhounds are typically such elegant dogs, but they're willing to play dress up to be in the parade:

The theme of this year's parade was "Board Games" and many old favorites made an appearance.

Scrabble:

Jeopardy:


Turtlopoly (AKA Monopoly):

And Battleship:


Anyone who's been following Island politics will see the irony of that entry!

No parade is complete without marching bands:

Parades always seem to attract queens too and we had a Cherry Queen, a Trout Queen, an Alpine Queen, out own Lilac Queen and also the "Northern Michigan Beach Queens":

And the King too!

It seems like most parades have a t least a few clowns:

This is "Dynamite the Clown" and I remember seeing him in parades when I was a kid (a long time ago - how old is he?)

This is Mackinac after all, so there has to be bikes:

And more importantly, horses!

See what you missed!