By Ted Winterer President, Ocean Park Association
The Ocean Park Association’s inaugural Fourth of July parade was an astounding success, which far exceeded our wildest expectations. We couldn’t be more pleased. Many people worked hard to stage the parade, but it wouldn’t have happened without the floats, marchers, VIPs, musicians, kids on bikes and many more. So thanks, first of all, to the hundreds of participants and the thousands of spectators who made this parade such a fantastic event. Kudos are also due to our peerless parade coordinator Lori Nafshun, who came up with the notion of a parade down Main Street and who labored countless hours to make her dream a reality; to Joel Brand for all his hard work laying the groundwork for the event; to our indefatigable Parade Committee; and to the dozens of volunteers who made it all happen the morning of the Fourth.
We’re also grateful for the generosity of the two major sponsors of the parade — the North of Montana Association (NOMA) and the city of Santa Monica. Without them, we’d have never been able to pay the bills. Also critical to underwriting the parade costs were the Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition (Wilmont), ZJ Boarding House, Holy Guacamole, Pacific Park, Keller Williams Realty, O’Brien’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, AP Real Estate, the Main Street Business Improvement Association, Piero Hair Salon, Network Solutions International, Main Attraction Hair and Nail Salon, Archstone Apartments, Le Merigot Hotel, the Rand Corporation, the Sea Shore Motel, Chinois on Main, Aura, First Federal Bank and Yose Nomadic Asian Cuisine.
And, of course, we couldn’t have done it without the help of the Santa Monica Daily Press and the ads and articles your paper ran to promote the parade.
Finally, special thanks are due to the Santa Monica Police Department, who made sure the parade was safe and fun for all and who worked hard and cheerfully with us over the months as our original vision of a modest parade of perhaps two cars and 80 marchers grew to 10 times that size.
Congratulations to Ben and Josh Segal, winners of a classic longboard from ZJ Boarding House for Best Decorated Wagon.
Other first place winners in our various competitions were: Best Recycled Entry: Polly Baldonado for “Ms. Ocean Park”
Best Decorated Dog: Alyssa Storm for “Mystic” Best Kid’s Costume: Nate and Clay Hollander Best Group Entry: Robert Novak for “Transplanted New Yorkers”
Best Decorated Kid’s Bike: Emery Komlos Best Creative Kid’s Group: Growing Place Preschool We had a blast and are tickled so many others did as well. And we’re already thinking about how to make next year’s parade even better.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 10, 2007. Read the original PDF.