Cars, Kids And Clowns Make Millwood’s Day
The sirens were loud, but the dogs held their own.
At Saturday’s second annual West Valley Family Days parade, guys in fire trucks and sheriff’s cars loved to blast sirens. And as the procession snaked through Millwood, each siren blast evoked a chorus of howls from neighborhood dogs.
Bipeds, though, seemed to love it.
SCOPE West Valley sponsored the event, and that’s why there were so many sheriff’s department vehicles. And fire engines. And those walking, talking crash-test dummies.
Bystander Luke Shollenberger, 11, couldn’t resist those guys. “Hi, Larry,” the boy piped up, reading the name tag pinned to one of the dummies. Larry ran over and gave Luke a fistful of stickers. Luke immediately applied the foil sheriff’s badge decal and “Don’t Be a Dummy - Buckle Up” stickers to his face.
Organizers weren’t trying to compete with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or anything. This was a guy- and gal-next-door kind of thing. Something you could view from a lawn chair in your front yard.
Neighbors watched a bunch of ladies dressed in black Western wear with red frills march by at a disciplined gait. They were followed by a pickup hauling a 10-foot-tall boot from the Boot Corral.
And there was Joy’s Mobile Petting Zoo, a moving menagerie made up of horse, llama, and miniature goat. Joy Katterfeld’s 5-year-old daughter, Brittney, provided the cute kid factor as she rode by on a big brown horse.
There was an army of classic cars. Jim Anderson was especially proud of his pale green ‘55 Chevy Bel-Air. “It was my first car,” the firefighter said, whipping out a faded photo of the car when it was nearly new. He bought it just after graduating high school 37 years ago.
George Hippe rode in the back of a Sheriff’s Department truck. The SCOPE volunteer didn’t talk directly too much, though. He channeled all his messages through his staff - a ventriloquist dummy in a sheriff’s uniform and a dog puppet named Scruff. “He’s McGruff’s nephew,” Hippe said, briefly becoming himself.
A top hat-wearing clown who goes by Dr. M.T. Shrink (we aren’t making this up) jumped up and down in front of a fire engine, then continued down the street on foot. Last year he brought a pedal car, Doc remembered. He left it home this time because the trailer he uses to haul it has expired tabs, and with all these deputies around….
After about 30 minutes everyone ended up at Millwood Park, where the next phase of fun began.
For a quarter, kids could play games like toss-the-ball-through-the-plywood clown. But even if all their shots were air-balls, youngsters came away with yo-yos.
A guy dressed as McGruff the Crime Dog (that Scruff puppet’s uncle) wandered around. “He’s following us,” said 3-year-old Nicholas Lemons, sounding a little worried.
“No, it just seems that way,” his grandmother replied.
A rock band called Undercover warmed up. Folks formed a food line. The petting zoo set up shop, and kids got to pet pigs and gawk at geese.
Volunteer Thomas King, one of the many folks wearing green SCOPE shirts, took it all in and smiled. “This is a lot of work to put on, but it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
And in the end, it was even fun for dogs. Meeko, a nine-week-old German shepherd, stared at the throng of people with big, brown puppy eyes. He wiggled his nose in the breeze, surveying the aroma of hot dogs, then rolled in the grass.
Tough guy or not, a passing deputy couldn’t resist. “Ah, you’re just a baby,” Deputy Bob Christilaw said, stopping to give the pooch a good scratch behind the ears
Now that beats sirens any day.
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