Follow The Yellow Brick Road!

Yesterday I went to the Oz-Stravaganza festival in lovely Chittenango, NY. Chittenango was the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, the writer of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Along Main Street, the sidewalks are made with "yellow bricks". The signs welcoming you to the village have Oz characters on them that tell of Baum's relationship to Chittenango. Every year, the relatively small town throws a party to celebrate him and the story he created. Despite living near Chittenango my entire life, I have never gone to the festival until now. I hope to make it a yearly appointment from now on; it was a lot of fun. Here are some images of the festival's parade!


I love the old police cars in Chittenango. They remind me of The Blues Brothers.


Basically anyone dressed up as a Wizard of Oz character can march in the parade. This "Tin-Man" here was actually a "Tin-Woman". I saw her wandering around the vendor area after the parade.


This girl was dressed as Miss Gulch. While her bicycle wasn't period-appropriate, her costume was still very good and I have to give her her well-deserved kudos.


The Tin Man sat down after they passed us; he could hardly move under his bulky costume.


This was amazing.


"Big Bad Ben The Blonde Belgian" is a massive horse. Big Bad Ben lived up to his name when he left his own souvenir on the street some ways down from where we were.


The highlight for many festival-goers is seeing the actors who played the munchkins in the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie. Sadly, many of the "Munchkins" are no longer alive. There are only a few left and the parade was lucky enough to have a couple of them make appearances. One of the actors in the parade was Margaret Pellegrini, who played the "Flower Pot" Munchkin. She passed us on this golf cart, in fine spirits. Just reading her biography on the festival webpage gave me the feeling that she is an extraordinary woman.


One of the Scottish Bagpipe bands in the parade. I saw them last weekend in a Memorial Day parade but I don't think I could ever tire of seeing them. Bagpipe music reminds me of curling and I get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.


I listen to B104.7 on the radio a lot. They play country music. Several floats used the concept of the house crushing the wicked witch but I liked this one.


I adore the King from the Burger King commercials so seeing him come walking up with Dorothy was hysterical. They were wearing signs on their backs as well. The King's read, "There's No Place Like Burger King" while Dorothy's said, "I Have A Feeling We're Not in Burger King Anymore". Cheesy advertising taking advantage of the parade? Sure. Awesome anyway? Very much so.


More guests in the parade were L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, Bob Baum, and Bob's wife, Clare.


The beginning of another bagpipe band. They were led by Dorothy and the Scarecrow. Note Dorothy's lack of ruby-red slippers.


Another guest of the parade: Caren Marsh-Doll. She was a movie actress in the 1940's, performed on Broadway, and appeared in the parade because she was Judy Garland's stand-in for the movie. I won't tell you how old she is because that wouldn't be polite, but I will say she looks decades younger than she is!


Dunkin' Donuts truck. They had nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz but I did like their characters.


Several people came out dressed up to promote next weekend's Civil War Weekend in Peterboro, NY.


The Basset Hound Rescue group was at the parade, and there were so many Basset Hounds that marched!


Not a Basset Hound; it's a Toto look-alike!



My souvenirs from the festival. The U.S. Postal Service was there offering special Oz-Stravaganza-themed postal cancellations so I got one of each.


For more information on Oz-Stravaganza, they have a website:
www.oz-stravaganza.com