A Place I Live: Anaheim Halloween Parade

Just this past Tuesday Jeremy and I were spending Taco Tuesday at the Anaheim Brewery when we were invited by our friend Kevin to join the Anaheim Halloween Parade. We were already planning on watching the parade, so why not be part of making history, again.

Photos courtesy of the Anaheim Historical Society

The Anaheim Historical Society (AHS) was replicating part of the 1953 parade for the 2012 festivities including the infamous flying saucer known as the “Sasser”, Mid Century ladies dressed as Martians and the ribbon winning robot from the 1951 parade. It’s not too hard to guess that the theme for the parade was “Out of This World.” 60 years ago the space age craze had landed at the Anaheim Parade and it was time for a comeback.

Kevin had explained that to capture the original essence of the 1953 parade everything needed to be handmade and look like the Little Rascals had made it. AHS member Bill Couture created a fantastic replica of the original Sasser out of metal tubing, wood and a wagon, including a built from scratch TV antenna and light effects. Kevin and Jody, also from the AHS, painted the Sasser making it look like it had really travelled to the future from 1953.

I was cast to be a Martian, but not just any Martian. The mid-century ladies from Kress Five & Dime Store had dressed as Martians complete with space helmets made from kitchen colanders, shower caps, wire, Christmas ornaments and other household goods. They even wore protective gloves known these days as dishwashing gloves.

1951 Robot, Jeremy testing his radar reader on Sophie, posing with Kevin and Sophie as we wait for launch time

Jody made some fantastic Martian space helmets out of some of the same materials that were used back in the 1950s. Barbara from Anaheim Brewery helped me choose the perfect helmet, which was a fabulous fascinator-like piece made from a colander. It had a Saturn ring, decorative jacks and of course my Christmas ornament antennas. For the finishing touch it was all painted space age silver. I am convinced I had the best space helmet ever.

 

Jeremy thought it would be funny to go as a UFO Scientist complete with white lab coat, Martian radar reader and clip board for taking notes of his findings. Let’s not forget that Sophie got in on the action! We built her a shiny jet pack out of water bottles and aluminum foil and a headband for her own set of Martian antennas. She was the best behaved Martian dog I’ve ever seen. She even earned herself a special Martian treat, or as we call them here on Earth, a cheeseburger.

AHS vintage cars, AHS friends riding Penny Farthings, 1953 antenna replica

On October 27^th at 6 PM the Sasser took its maiden voyage down Broadway Avenue with a full moon shining down. It travelled behind a fleet of hearses and was followed by AHS classic cars and the Anaheim High School marching band.

Our first experience in the Anaheim Halloween Parade truly was out of this world! We made new friends and can’t wait to see what vintage float the Historical Society decides to bring back to the future next year.