June 4, 2016 | 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Downtown Kalamazoo

Additional Information

The “Do‐Dah Parade” is Saturday, June 4, 2016 at 11 am. The parade will travel the traditional Do‐Dah parade route (Lovell, Park, Michigan, Portage, back to Lovell), starting at the corner of Jasper and Lovell Street.

Do-Dah Parade started in 1984, when WKMI organizers designed the parade as a way for companies and organizations to provide unique entertainment through a parody. It was patterned after the Pasadena, California Parade called Doo Dah.  The purpose remains the same – create the un-structured, un-proper, and totally goofy parade.  Maybe a better word would be a zooy outrageous costume parade.  Each year, participants are challenged to reinvigorate the meaning of “Do-Dah” (a parody based on a spoof or a satire of a person, place, event or thing).  The YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo, together with WKFR challenges you to be creative.  The theme this year is “Do Dah Fit,” which gives you the latitude to either design a unit based on the theme or to feature a parody.  You choose.

We are ready to kick-start this parade and add a little fitness fun.  Trust us, we know  that we always ask for the best of the best.  You know, the drill teams, the drop-dead funny entries that are filled with parodies and so hilarious that we are still laughing about them now.  No worries about how you create a theme because we have a series of “how to” workshops in April and May that will help you create themes, paper decorations, and costumes.  And, the places where we are going to hold them – will help the creative juices flow (if you get our drift).   The requirement to create a parody is still the “gimmick” and this year you can incorporate fitness and health into the theme and the costume.  So many great options and it is now easier than ever to participate.

Parade entry fee is just $50 and includes access to the workshops to help you create your theme/spoof.

Parade is limited to 70 units, so send in your application as soon as possible by the deadline of May 15th.

For more information and parade specifics, please see the information sheet here.