PHOTOS BY MEGHAN ERKKINEN

VOLUNTEERS WORKED TO PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON THE FIFE-MILTON DAFFODIL FLOAT APRIL 8. To coincide with the theme of “Remembering Your First Daffodil Parade,” the float was decorated with ice cream cones, Cracker Jack boxes and peanuts. When they began, the float was nothing more than a metal frame.

Daffodil Float Fife puts on finishing touches

By Meghan Erkkinen

It’s that time of year again: the birds are returning and the flowers are blooming. This time of year means one other thing: it’s daffodil season, and time to prepare for the annual Daffodil Parade.

That’s just what Fife Councilmember Dick Godwin and a handful of other area residents are doing. Godwin and his partners have been working tirelessly since early January to put together the daffodil float that is shared by Fife and Milton.

The theme of this year’s parade is “75 Years: Remembering Your First Daffodil Parade.” In that spirit, Godwin’s team put together a float with everything they remember about the parade from their childhood.

The float has ice cream cones that turn in place, Cracker Jack boxes, peanuts, puppies and a giant clown. A mannequin of a small boy will also stand on the float, taking in the images many area residents will recall themselves. Two girls representing Fife High School will also greet the crowd from atop the float.

“I think it (the float) is going to be very representative of the community,” Godwin said. “The theme is remembering your first parade, and that’s what we remember.”

In fact, Godwin does remember his first parade – he was a young child and his parents took him to downtown Tacoma to watch the floats pass in the early 1950s.

“I remember the clowns selling Cracker Jacks and popcorn,” he said.

Ron Simchen, the 2008 Daffodil Festival President, also remembers going to the parade as a child.

“Back when it was a big parade, before television, I remember our family used to go up to 21st and Market (streets) and we’d watch the beginning of the parade every year,” he recalled. “I remember things like the Boy Scout troops who were involved in the parade.”

Simchen is putting together three floats – one for the Puyallup Tribe, one for the Educator of the Year and one for the Daffodil Queen and princesses.

Much of what Godwin and his team have been doing is building the frame of the float. The base of the float is a 1982 Chevy Citation, which has been cut in half and stretched 15 feet. Although the base has been used for many years, this year the group of designers opted to make the float a different shape, and has worked to weld and construct a new frame.

Every member of the team putting together the float has a particular expertise, but, according to Godwin, “everybody does a little bit of everything and has some fun.”

Once the frame was constructed, Godwin hired Peggy Adams of Above and Beyond Costumes in downtown Puyallup to do most of the decorating.

Once she began to think about the project, Adams said a vision was easy to come by.

“You think of childhood, parades, the circus,” she said. “When you start remembering childhood, it’s easy to remember all the things that excited you.”

The last step in the decorating process is to stuff the float with daffodils. The public is invited to help stick 4,000 daffodils into chicken wire at 7 p.m. April 11. To get to the daffodil float shed, travel along Valley Avenue toward 70th Street in Fife. Make the last right before the new FedEx facility and follow the driveway to a large yellow garage on the right.

The float will make its debut at the Grand Floral Street Parade April 12. The parade will begin in Tacoma at 10:15 a.m. and will end in Orting that evening.

For more information on the Daffodil Festival and parade, visit www.daffodilfestival.net.

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