Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The 4th of July Boat Parade: The Crafty Details

My blog followers will know that we
purchased a lake house a couple
of years ago. This is our third
summer there.
 
The first year we were painting
walls and remodeling when we saw
 this funny parade of boats go by.
We were like "what was THAT?"
 
We soon discovered it was the
annual boat parade for this lake.
 
The very next summer, we were
participating in it.
 


 
Last year, we won 3rd place.
The theme was the Roaring 20's.
 
We didn't have an idea,
we were just dressed in
red,white, and blue vintage
style clothes.
 
Now you know it was "game on"
this year and we wanted to win.
 
We even had my step daughter and
her husband excited about joining in.
This was the night before the parade.
 
The theme: "I Love NY"
 

 
We came up with the yellow checkered
cab with a NY cityscape behind it...
with a "3-D" type of effect. The
windows of the cab were positioned
where the boat seats were located 
so we could wave like we
 were riding in a yellow taxi!

The cityscape turned out
awesome... without my
step-daughter's artistic talent
it may have turned out like
the leaning towers of Pisa.

And what is that canoe doing behind us?
As an added bonus we pulled my step daughter
who was dressed up like Lady Liberty.
 

 
The crown: painted cardboard.
The gown: a gray sheet we pulled
out of the closet at the last minute.
The torch: A painted tiki torch
 
And she held that torch up the whole parade.
 

 
 
Here you can see the cityscape
a little bit better...
and the Hubs with Bebe and
my son in law.
 
There are other details we worked
on that aren't as noticeable.

 
Like the foam taxi sign my hubby
created from packaging materials.
He was so proud!
 
It was a VERY windy day
so we needed the metal bar
across the boat to reinforce
the cardboard cab and cityscape.

 
A few days earlier I had painted
the "I LOVE NY" logo onto
the front and back of this $2
yard sale American Tourister.


 

I do believe she is the prettiest
Statue of Liberty
I have ever seen in a canoe!
 
(And bravest... they wanted me to do it
and because of the wind I said "NO WAY!")
 

 
Talk about fun...
and we won FIRST PLACE!
 

The prize?
This odd set of men's hats
and a beer bottle
filled with patriotic décor.
They've been passing it
around since 1994!
There is a plaque
we get to engrave
our names onto.
 
We get to keep the mug and
I LOVE NY buttons.
We'll always remember
this day whenever we
use the mug!
 
PLUS we get to judge next year...
and then we'll be back for
more tough competition
laughs and memories!
 
with Mrs. Olson
 
and Coastal Charm's
 

 

4 comments:

Victorian1885 said...

How cute! Congratulations on 1st place...
Enjoy your summer.

Wanda

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

How fun! Congratulations on winning this year. Love this very creative idea!!

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson said...

Oh my gosh, how fabulous is that boat and canoe? You guys went to so much detail. I love it! The taxi sign, the suitcase, it is all just so clever. No wonder you won first place. Congrats! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

That is so awesome! I'm not surprised that you won! What fun!