My fun day with the Mobile, Alabama, Conde Cavaliers continued throughout the afternoon until late in the evening. At 6:30PM, the men paraded out of the Civic Center greeting the anxiously waiting and chilled crowd of well-wishers, fans, and family. Even before they got onto the floats, they were passing out beads, toys, and candies to the crowd.
The floats are all decorated with various themes and painted with florescent paints that glow with photography flash. The designs vary from simplistic to incredibly ornate.
Unfortunately, while preparing for the parade word spread among the crowd that one or more of the floats had trouble. In fact, it was my friend Lester’s float, my neighbor and friend who helped me get behind the scenes. The tongue broke while they were moving the floats out of the storage facility to the parade starting point. A huge tow truck was brought in quickly and it managed to clamp onto the front of the float to keep it in the parade. Most of the floats are pulled by new trucks from the local dealerships, but his float was towed by “the biggest durn truck of them all” claimed Lester, after the parade.
The men climbed on board and immediately started tossing stuffed animals, beads, candies, hula hoops, and other toys to the awaiting crowd. Much of the crowd was dressed up in tuxedos and evening gowns awaiting the entry into the Civic Center for the grand ball after the men returned from the parade route.
Click the pictures to see an enlarged view, and please print these out from there with your color printer. We do not sell prints, though we may consider negotiating for reprints.
Click image to see enlarged version.
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