Parade gets ‘better every year’

dpt-parade04Text5427C4F8Daily Pilot BALBOA ISLAND14th annual Balboa Island Parade brings out the small-town ‘Mayberry’ feeling in the community.ON THE WEB

To view a slide show of the parade, go to www.dailypilot.com.

BALBOA ISLAND — Fourteen years ago, the Balboa Island community threw a small party to celebrate the opening of a newly restored firehouse. What began as a simple procession of a handful of vehicles has grown to include people from all over the City of Newport Beach and farther.

Fittingly, Newport Beach fire vehicles led the procession of the 14th Annual Balboa Island Parade. On the first Sunday in June the crowds pile onto the sidewalks of Marine Avenue for the festivities and this year was no different.

Don and Bobbie Flamm remember as they have been living on the island since almost two decades before the first festivities began.

“It’s seems to get longer and better every year,” Don Flamm said.

Decorated golf cart floats, presidential impersonators, war veterans, unicycle-riding clowns, two live surf bands, and even an original bat mobile made an appearance. Other quirky additions coasted down the street showing that this island has the heart of a small town trapped in the middle of a big city.

“This is really Mayberry,” Fire Capt. Jerry Strom said while he rode shotgun in one of the island fire engines. “There’s such a community feeling you can’t find anywhere else.”

Children waved hands and flags eagerly as the fire engine carrying Strom and two of his co-workers passed by. Huge smiles flashed across their faces as firefighter Armando Oseguera raised his hand and returned the friendly gesture.

Peppered throughout the crowd people shouted “Thank you” and “You’re awesome” as the firefighters and other emergency crews passed. Some stood and clapped, determined to show their gratitude to the men and women who protect them everyday.

A slew of vintage cars, golden Labradors and poodles swarmed the street. On top of two surf bands, the Mater Dei High School band drove in from Santa Ana to play.

More fitting along the tiny streets of the island were a number of golf carts, some decorated like floats in the New Year’s Day Rose Parade.

For the last three years Larry and Pam Kallestad have employed their four grandchildren to assist with the construction of their float. This year working with cardboard boxes, PVC piping, paint, foam scraps and packaging popcorn, grandpa and his crew constructed a Radio Flyer-inspired float around the cart.

It took the family about one month to construct the Island Flyer, a red wagon filled with chocolate ice cream bars. Though only hollow inside, the kids could easily imagine all the ingredients of the real thing.

“There’s vanilla ice cream, a hard chocolate layer, sprinkles and nuts,” 9-year-old Ben Schechtman said. He and his brother, Jacob Schechtman, and cousins, Alyssa and Erica Kallestad, are already thinking about next year.

“As soon as we finish they ask ‘What’s for next year, Papa?’ ” Larry Kallestad said.

“It’s fun decorating everything and being in the parade,” Alyssa said. Most of the kids’ joy came from “[knowing we] worked hard on it,” she added.