The night before the 4th of July, counselors were up until the wee hours of the morning making costumes and floats. They dreaded the wake-up bell, wishing they could be with the sandman for several more hours. This was impossible because everyone had a big day ahead. There we still plenty of work that had to be done in the morning. Power drills and saws were spinning rapidly to cut wood for props and floats. All of us were rushing in the craft cabins to put the final touches to our costumes.
Our theme for the parade this year was through the five decades of Camp Jabberwocky. Mimsy was the 50s. Faith transformed herself into a juke box. Both Nancy Connelly and Nancy J. joined their wheelchairs to become a beautiful Cadillac, and they were able to afford the nearly $5 per gallon gasoline. The folks, including myself, from Jub Jub were transported to the 60s. I was Paul McCarthy. Spin doctors advised Manny what to say as President Kennedy to his fellow Americans on the parade route.
At 4:45, after a two and a half hour wait and more preparations, all of us started to get very excited knowing that the parade was going to begin in 15 minutes and we won for the Best Float. Then we took our places.
Rick’s band started to play signaling to us to march. Mrs. Lamb, aka Hellcat, who founded Camp Jabberwocky rode on a throne on the float waving to the crowd. Parade watchers cheered as we past. President Kennedy, Manny, didn’t have politics much on his mind because Marline Monroe (Julia, Pete’s counselor) was pushing him. The beatles and their friends sang ‘The Yellow Submarine’ to entertain the crowd. It was a joyous day!
