Balboa Island Parade chairwoman keeps it all on track
No, no, no, Barry McGuire will not be the grand marshal of this year’s Balboa Island Parade.
Not that McGuire, who scored a No. 1 hit in 1965 with the doom-laden protest song “Eve of Destruction.” While it might be perversely amusing to watch the procession begin on Balboa Island to the strains of “If the button is pushed, there’s no running away / There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave,” the man who rides at the front of the parade will instead be the identical-sounding Barry Meguiar, president of the car products company Meguiar’s.
That misunderstanding quickly resolves itself in conversation with Mary Pat Earl, the chairwoman of this year’s parade, who has to keep track of everything from the grand marshal’s name to the roadside balloons to the emergency protocol if a fire engine has to roar down Marine Avenue during the festivities. Earl, a Balboa Island resident since 1969, took the parade reins as a director of the Balboa Island Improvement Assn., which will host the parade June 1 for the 21st year.
Among those scheduled to walk or ride are the American Legion Color Guard and Rifle Squad, veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and drivers of a century’s worth of classic cars. And in terms of side-of-the-road refreshments — well, to borrow a line from the sitcom “Arrested Development,” which is set partly in Balboa, there’s always money in the banana stand.
On a hot May day, Earl ducked into a shady spot on Marine Avenue and talked about the ins and outs of parade planning. The following are excerpts from the conversation:
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I have to say, I’m completely unschooled in the art of setting up a parade. So I’ll have to ask you first of all, what is the key to putting on a really great parade?
Having a lot of great helpers and responsible people. I would have to say my backbone are the people that are my committee, and the committee is really the structure of the parade. If everybody follows through, everything runs smoothly.
I’d imagine — well, there aren’t too many people who live on Balboa Island. Do you sometimes feel like the whole community comes together to put on this event?
We do. Everybody comes together to do the parade itself. I believe that most of the streets always have an entry, if not two entries for the parade, and it’s put on for the whole community.
Do you tend to see most everyone who’s not in the parade standing on the sidewalk watching it go by?
Quite a few. Last year, I think there was over 4,000 people there.
There are a lot of famous parades throughout the world, like the Rose Parade, for example. Do you have a personal favorite parade, outside of this one?
The Rose Parade, I would have to say. We were in that two years ago. We were environmental engineers — pooper scoopers. It was a hoot. We walked the whole thing. My kids and I walked it. It was great.
When you say “we,” is that the company that you work for?
No. My children and I. A friend of ours is on the board for the Rose Parade, so we got in because of that. But it was fun.
Looking at some of your entry guidelines here, it mentions that there’s an award given for Most Unique Kid. Tell me a little about that. What makes a unique kid in this parade?
A couple years ago, the Unique Kid award went to a group of kids, and they were all ducklings, all dressed up in duckling outfits. I don’t remember what the theme was for that year, but the theme this year is star-spangled banners, so it’ll probably be someone that’s very glitzy and red, white and blue and patriotic.
In terms of running a parade, are there any potential crises that you have to look out for?
One of our main crises would be for the fire truck to get off the island, because the firehouse is actually blocked by the parade, so the truck is actually on the side of Hershey’s Market, and we have instructions to everybody that if the fire truck were to go off, everybody goes to the north side of the bridge. And some people are not quite sure what the north side is, so we have to really explain what side the bridge is. That would be the most critical thing.
We did have one year [when] somebody had a heart attack, and it was very difficult getting the people to understand what side of the bridge was the north. So that would be our most critical thing, I think.
Do you think of [the parade] as kind of a celebration of Balboa Island itself?
Yes. It’s a celebration of Balboa Island. It’s kind of like yacht clubs have their opening day. It’s kind of Balboa Island’s opening day for the summer.
I imagine summer is a pretty hectic time on Balboa Island.
It’s hectic, between the junior guards and tourists that come down, because it’s a lot of rentals. Seasonal rentals are here on the island. You just plan your days to know that you’re going to take a little longer to get off the island.
I imagine that’s a good time of the year for the frozen banana stands.
Oh my gosh, yes. And Dad’s Donut Shop.
Do they tend to do a lot of business during the parade?
During the parade, no. After the parade, yes. During the parade, pretty much everybody’s focusing and sitting on the curb line and focusing more at the parade. Starbucks is packed, but I would have to say that’s probably the only one that’s crowded. And then it tapers off, and then everybody’s either down at the Village Inn or at the after-party, [where] there’s a band in front of the fire department after the parade is finished.
Do you have a personal favorite part of the parade every year?
Not really. It’s just a fun day. It’s a real fun day. We start with Bloody Marys and then tying balloons on these benches.... We end up doing all the helium in the morning for all the balloons, so tying three balloons on every park bench, we have 500 balloons that we blow up that morning and decorate the island and the bridge. So it takes a bit of time and a lot of teenagers.
If You Go
What: 21st annual Balboa Island Parade
Where: Along Marine Avenue on Balboa Island, Newport Beach
When: 11 a.m. (bridge to Balboa Island closes at 10:30 a.m.)
Cost: Free
Information: (949) 673-2281 or https://www.balboaisland.com