Clear skies and tradition mark annual parade
Laguna Beach partied with an Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer and a World War II pilot as the 49th Patriots Day Parade rolled through the city’s streets for the first time in two years Saturday.
Rain caused organizers to cancel last year’s parade, but the all-volunteer parade committee invited the 2014 honorees back on a day that blue skies prevailed.
Parade Grand Marshal Janet Evans, with one of four gold medals around her neck, waved to the crowd while sitting in a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air that rolled along Park Avenue.
Evans, a Laguna Beach resident for six years, attended past parades, but this was a first as a participant. She said seeing the American flags and residents decked in red, white and blue attire reminded her of standing on the medal podium during the Olympics.
“Representing our country is the reason you go to the Olympics,” said Evans, who won Olympic medals in ’88 and’92. “I love living in Laguna Beach and am blessed every single day. To be honored by the city is humbling and cool, very cool.”
Another Laguna resident, Robert Mosier, was this year’s honored patriot for his WWII service. In the South Pacific Mosier flew paratroopers into combat and piloted one of the first planes into Japan following the country’s surrender in 1945.
Mosier later flew escaped Allied prisoners to ports for their return home.
Pageant of the Masters officials recognized WWII with a float where actors portrayed American soldiers placing the U.S. flag in the ground at Iwo Jima. Judges awarded the entry first place in the commercial float category and recognized the float with the president’s theme trophy.
This was the third parade in which the Pageant recognized the moment, artistic director and producer Dee Challis wrote in an email Monday.
“In the 1950s when it was first shown in the Pageant, it received a standing ovation from the audience in the Irvine Bowl,” Challis wrote.
The parade gives organizations an opportunity to showcase their creative sides in designing floats.
Sawdust Art Festival artists created a replica facade of the facility’s Laguna Canyon location.
They spent most of Friday forming the display out of foam, cardboard, paper mache, canvas, and picture frames, artist Jesse Bartels said. The facade sat on the bed of a pickup truck, driven along the parade route by Sawdust General Manager Tom Klingenmeier.
Alex Wilson, 29, sat on the sidewalk with his wife and two girls ages 3 and 1 taking in all the pageantry. Wilson, who grew up in Laguna, lives in Rancho Santa Margarita, but came back for the parade.
Such an event helps “reconnect with the community and know what your neighbors are doing,” Wilson said. “The girls like to see the dancers.”
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TROPHY WINNERS
Grand Marshal: South Orange County Vietnam Veterans
President’s Theme: Pageant of the Masters
Band Assn. Sweepstakes: Oaks Middle School, Ontario
Color Guard (21 and older): American Legion Post 222/Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5868 Combined Color Guard
Elementary School Band: Laguna Beach Unified
Auto-Antique: O.E. Steinert Construction
Auto-Classic: Grand Marshal (owner Denny Katovsich)
Auto-Contemporary: Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach
Floats-Community Service: Laguna Beach Girl Scouts
Floats-Youth: Pacific Marine Mammal Center
Floats-Commercial: Pageant of the Masters
Novelty-Community Service: Laguna Beach Beautification Council
Novelty-Commercial: H.I.P. District
Laguna Beach Seniors strumming ukeleles.