OCEAN CITY — Registration forms for the city’s 26th annual Doo Dah Parade are now available at City Hall Annex, 901 Asbury Ave., 609-525-9300, on weekends by calling 609-364-4010 or by emailing msoifer@ hotmail.com.The event is set for Sat., April 16 starting at noon. Entry in the parade is free.
Grand Marshal will be Meadowlark Lemon, the legendary Harlem Globe Trotter and a member of the National Basketball Association’s Hall of Fame. Meadowlark will be a special guest at a dinner Theater program in his honor on April 15 at the Flanders Hotel.
He will greet guests, sign autographs, pose for photos and sign copies of his new book. Impersonators of legendary comedians will also pose for photos and greet attendees prior to their performances. The Ted Prior band will be featured.
For tickets call 609-525-9300 or stop at City Hall Annex, 901 Asbury Ave or email msoifer @hotmail.com. On weekends, call 609-364-4010. Attendance is limited to 100 persons.
Admission to buffet dinner and show is $55. Menu includes prime rib, chicken and fish entrees, an hour long array of appetizers, beverages (non alcoholic) and a dessert table.
Ocean City High School Clubs, booster organizations and the High School Band will be honored during the Parade for contributions to the community. The High School Band will lead the humorous march.
The parade will again feature a Basset Hound Waddle with over 500 of the floppy eared canines loping along Asbury Avenue and the Boardwalk. There will be unusual and funny brigades, kooky individuals, a variety of bands, clowns and impersonators of legendary comedians.
Pet owners who wish to be in the Basset Waddle should register at www.tristatebassets.org or call 609-525-9300.
The parade starts at 6th and Asbury Ave., proceeds to 12th and Asbury, turns east to the Boardwalk and ends at the Music Pier where there is an awards ceremony and PieAsco.
PieAsco participants sit in grandstands and smoosh each other in the face with shaving cream pies. The event honors legendary comedian Soupy Sales, a perennial Doo Dah favorite, who passed away in December. His wife, Trudy, a former June Taylor dancer, will start the event with Meadowlark.
Parade divisions include Individuals, Brigades described as “five or more deranged individuals,” impersonators of legendary comedians, Miscellaneous-Whatevers, Pooches and Tribute to Ocean City High School.
Fan clubs normally participate and there will be professional impersonators of Groucho and Harpo Marx, Marilyn Monroe, Lucy, Abbott and Costello, George Burns and Jack Benny.
All participants will receive an “I Was A Hotdog For A Day” Doo Dah T Shirt following the parade courtesy of Dietz and Watson, major sponsor.