Our 2025 Parade Float Concept!
brittanymarkham- May 10
- 5 min read
It's been so fun this week revisiting our past parade float projects on Instagram!
When we first began our fundraising campaign, my very first idea in order to garner some attention was to be in our city's 4th of July parade. In a local community parade where most parade entries are decorated truck beds and cars with people handing out fliers, coupons, and candy, I knew our entry needed to be different to catch people's attention and be remembered long after we walked by... and be intriguing enough to lead people to visit our website and donate.
I remember being so nervous for our very first float: The Itsy Bitsy Spider. The staging area for the parade was filled with dozens of organizations and businesses and social clubs - and then here we were, just a little family (and friends) asking for help raising money to develop treatment for an otherwise terminal rare disease.
I'm not sure if I've talked about this before, but when the story you want to share is a heavy topic, it can sometimes be stressful figuring out just how to talk about it appropriately in certain situations. I actually thought there was a possibility my first application to the parade would be denied because maybe they would think our story would be a buzzkill? Independence Day is meant to be a celebration after all.
And even if our application was accepted, what about during the parade itself? Would people's smiles turn to frowns when they saw us? Would we "kill the patriotic holiday vibes" as we marched? I was so nervous that people were going to actually resent our attempt to bring attention to our campaign during a holiday where they were trying to relax and create happy memories with their families.
It turns out I had nothing to worry about. Our community couldn't have been more welcoming and supportive of us.
In fact, in writing this just now, I realize that exact idea is what has become the bread and butter of our whole campaign: raising awareness and funds for ASMD treatment while simultaneously helping others make happy memories with their families during the holidays. And rather than resentment, people have gone out of their way to express excitement and appreciation for our campaign efforts! The response is so so what I hoped for. I always hope our story and our mission will inspire and strengthen people, not make them feel worse off.
Responses to our floats
My biggest clue in to how successful our parade float is (besides obviously seeing how much money we raise) is listening to people along the parade route as we march. During that first parade when I was so nervous, I felt so encouraged by the immediate reaction from all the kids who were so excited to see us coming.
"It's a spider!!"
"Wow, look at the spider!"
"That's so cool!"
"I love that spider!"
"How did they make that?!"
As much as the spider float was in honor of Damian (it's his favorite song), I also knew that in order to be memorable and spark conversation, I needed to appeal to kids. If adults see something cool, they might silently smirk and nod. But if kids see something cool, they have to start talking about it, especially to their parents!
The response to our second float, the Very Hungry Caterpillar was super successful in sparking conversations! I was so happy with the response to our "Hungry for Treatment" theme along the parade route, with kids literally jumping up and down in excitement and parents asking us if they could take a picture with our caterpillar. The recognition of the character I think was what made it especially popular.
"Mom! MOM! That's my book! That's my book!"
"It's the hungry caterpillar! And the food!!"
"We have that book!"
"That's my favorite computer game!"
"That was my favorite book as a kid!" (from a teenager)
"Ah! Don't let it eat me!"
As our parade floats grew in size, so did the rest of our campaign and the number of fundraising events we put on. At this last parade, with our massive life-size mama and baby elephants "Marching for Treatment," I noticed a new kind of comments being made - kids (and adults this time) weren't just talking about the elephants, but our campaigning as a whole!
"Wow, look at the elephants! That's so cool!"
"Aww there's a baby too!"
"How did you do that?!"
"Wait, you were the ones who made the caterpillar last year, right?? So cool!"
"Wow, you finished it!! Awesome job!!"
"I've been watching you build it all month!"
"We came to your house for Halloween!"
"I love following all your projects online!"
It has been so so amazing to see this campaign grow. Do I stress about the fundraising? Of course. But this campaign is evolving and getting bigger and I am just so so grateful that we can both fight for treatment and create joy at the same time. It is a labor of love in every sense of the term. I feel so immensely grateful for all the help we have received from people (and so many people we have received help from repeatedly) and I really am working to make this campaign symbiotically beneficial. I want to help create joy and want anyone who comes across our campaign to feel they are better off because of it.
And with that... I'm so excited to tell you what we've got planned for this year's parade!!!
Our 2025 parade concept
One of my main goals for this year is to work smarter, not harder. And that includes only putting efforts into things that get a great return on investment.
Every one of our parade floats so far have been single-use floats. We use them the one time and that's it (although I have recycled them all and used their parts for many other things).
This year, I wanted to make a float that will last, and I don't mean just as a parade float. I want it to be...
a staple of all our holiday events
an awesome photo op
really durable and high-quality
I have NOT done a super super in-depth design yet, but I do have the start of a very rough concept sketch:
We are building a train!!!
What is more classic and beloved and more inviting than a train?! I am so SO excited to start working on this!
Rather than have the engine, passenger car, and caboose be connected (I'm trying to save Brock's back this year, haha!) I'm thinking of having each section be pulled or pushed on its own separate industrial cart.
I want the train to have a lot of fun character and look straight out of a theme park, with the durability to match. I think the way to do that and keep it as light as possible is to make it with either epoxy or fiberglass - a bucket list project for me! (I've never used either but have always wanted to try!)
The best part of this will be that we can use our train as a photo op at our Halloween and Christmas events - trains are so versatile I think that we can theme them out for both!
For the next week I am going to be designing and planning out exactly what it's going to take to pull this off by July 4th... so stay tuned! Our most ambitious parade float to date is officially a GO!
"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.." ;)
<3
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