Thursday, May 30, 2013


Shriner's Circus Parade returns to Belleville on Friday
from:  bnd.com
May 29, 2013
 
Just when you though you've seen everything at the Shriners Circus Parade, along come motorized easy chairs, a scale model locomotive and Shriners popping 50- to 100-foot wheelies in a Crazy Car.
Step right up and park your lawn chairs, ladies and gents, the parade has become a circus in itself. "It's always something a little different," said John Blondell, the parade organizer. The Ainad Shriners Circus Parade will step off at 7:30 p.m. Friday in downtown Belleville.
"Be sure to get your lawn chair out there Friday morning," Blondell advised. "That's always a spectacle, too," to see so many people jockeying for the best vantage point.
One of the largest parades in Southern Illinois, it will feature floats, marching bands, clowns, Shriners driving their mini-cars and motorcycles and much more.
The parade will usher in four performances of the 47th annual Ainad Shriners Circus -- with animal acts, clowns and thrills -- on Saturday and Sunday at Belle-Clair Fairgrounds.
New in the parade
Hold onto your socks, Martha! The El Kazam Shrine Club will perform eye-poppin' wheelies for up to 100 feet at a time in their Popping Wheelie Crazy Car.
The car was the brainchild of Jerseyville native and farmer Bob Mowen. It's a modified 1931 2-door Model A Ford Phaeton. It debuted in the May 1990 Alton Memorial Day Parade, but has been a restoration project since it last appeard in a 2010 parade.
"It's a real crowd-pleaser," Blondell said. "I saw it back for the first time at the Alton Memorial Day Parade last weekend, and the crowd loved it."
How do they pop those amazing wheelies with four people in the car? Sorry, that's a parade secret.
After all that excitement, you might have to sit down like the guys in the powered easy chairs. Each chair is on a custom-built chassis and have a 50cc engine with disk brakes. They were created by Audio Video Concepts, a low-voltage integrator in Columbia.
"I saw them at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Louis," Blondell said. "They were a tremendous hit."
Not to be outdone is the Little Obie safety train, a scale model of a CN Railroad locomotive with a flatcar and caboose. The locomotive is authentic down to the detailed enginer's cab, working headlights, ditch lights and windshield wipers. The kids will go bananas when Little Obie blasts it's air horn.
Little Obie comes with a purpose: to promote railroad safety and to make children aware of the dangers of playing near tracks.

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