Banjo Float in the New Athens Homecome Parade

Boy did we ever have a great time playing in the New Athens Homecoming Parade. I think we're probably all sick of "Duelin' Banjos" (if we weren't before), but the crowd loved it! For such a small town, I am amazed at the size of our parade. There were 60 entries in the parade, with a parade route of approximately one mile (I'm guessing).

First of all, I owe a big thank you to all who made this float possible. Terry Lewis painted his 21' flatbed trailer and loaned it to us for the parade. Terry Hill did all of the decorating, which included a real stuffed possom, coyote skins, old traps, washtubs, lanterns, a make-shift roof of old tin, and all kinds of other "cool" hillbilly stuff! Rodney Schilling was kind enough to loan us 10 bales of straw and a trailer to haul them in to get them here. Becky Hill drove the truck during the parade route. Mike Easton, Denny Hepp, Terry Hill, Bill Barttelbort and I know several others helped drag the PA equipment out of the Bluegrass Shack (immediately following the fiddle contest) and onto the truck and float. Bill & Zane helped lead our songs along with me on banjo. Our fellow banjo & guitar players and banjo player want-to-be's (using inflatable banjos) included Igg, David, Terry, Carie, Dillon, Angie, Jackie, Jim, Makayla, Charlie, Emily, Rosemary, Denny, Corrina, Nicole, Paige, and Marilyn. Earl sat at the helm and threw out candy, harmonicas, recorders, kazoos and plastic trumpets. Mike took pictures for us, and here are just a few: