Pair of unique, imaginative entries create buzz at fair parade

PALMER — “Make it start! Make it start!”

As 3-year-old Briel Glanville hops up and down behind a crowd control rope Saturday morning along South Alaska Street in downtown Palmer, mom Megan Besse urges patience.

“It’ll start soon,” she says.

What had little Briel bursting with excitement was the anticipation leading up to the annual Alaska State Fair parade, which features an eclectic mix of locals and state fair acts making their way slowly through Palmer

Like other kids jostling to find a prime place to see the fair, Briel is prepared with an empty bag to fill with the free candy and trinkets that always come with a good parade.

But that’s not all she’s excited for.

“Puppies!” she says when asked about her favorite thing in a parade. “They’re all my favorite. I love puppies!”

For Glanville, a Palmer resident, bringing her young daughter to the state fair parade is an event they look forward to.

“She loves to come and watch it, and they always do such a good job putting it on,” she said. “It’s such a neat little town, and she is excited.”

Along with classic automobiles, military school cadets and BMX bicycle stunt riders, parade-goers this year were treated to a pair of unique and impressive floats. The first was a colorful cardboard metropolis besieged by some of the most recognizable monsters in literary and movie history — King Kong and Godzilla.

The Sutton Library reading program float featured a replica of a downtown scene complete with skyscrapers. In the front, King Kong terrorizes the populace, while in back, an animated giant Godzilla head ferociously threatens other parade participants and spectators.

Elaborate and imaginative costumes rounded out one of the most impressive and unique floats seen at a local parade.

If the Sutton Library scored a home run in sparking imaginations during the parade, the Alaska State Fair gardening staff blew everyone away with its entry, a giant vegetable basket made entirely of live flowers and natural materials. The basket held giant carrots, a huge head of cabbage and an enormous mound of marigolds.

“That was impressive,” said Valley resident and school board president Susan Pougher. “Oh, I loved it. I can’t believe it was all made with natural things. It’s gorgeous. It looked like it belonged in the Rose Bowl Parade. It’s not like anything in the Palmer parade ever. I was totally impressed.”

So was Palmer resident and longtime parade-goer Chuck Donn.

“It was pretty darn nice,” he said of the state fair float. “I’ve been watching this (parade) for 54 years and I’ve seen it all, but never seen anything quite that big. That must’ve been a lot of work and was a very nice float. We ought to have things like that in parades, not all these politicians and stuff.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or

greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.