March 17, 2001, saw the premiere performance by the Triangle Electric Auto
Association's Zappy Drill Team. Ever since I got my Zappy several years ago,
I've been threatening to organize a Zappy drill team to participate in a parade,
to show off electric vehicles and counterbalance the Shriners in their put-put
cars. All calls for participation, however, were met with deafening silence.
This year, though, the new TEAA president Ken "There's a Reason Why He's President" Dulaney pulled it all together. Ken signed the TEAA up for a spot in the Raleigh St. Patrick's Day Parade and sent out repeated calls for participants. It worked, and we had an electric truck and five Zappy's in the parade.
Centerpiece of the entry was a Chevy S-10 electric operated by the appropriately
named Father Patrick Tuttle, who drove over from Immaculate Conception churh
in Durham (recharging courtesy of the State Capitol Police who also have an
S-10 and a magnecharger in downtown Raleigh). Circulating around the truck as
it drove down the parade route were the five Zappys, operated by Jerry Asher
(who came down from Washington to help out), Harrell Chotas, Ken Dulaney, Jocelyn
Phillips and her son Steven -- alternating turns -- and yours truly.
As drill sergeant, I had designed a complex precision formation for the Zappists to follow: "Riding in circles around the truck without falling over or running into each other." I am pleased to say that the team executed this operation flawlessly. Some of the more advanced riders even performed the tricky "waving with one hand while steering with the other hand" maneuver.
Although
our drills perhaps were not as flashy as the Shriners', they were also accomplished
without rehearsal. In fact, drill member Chotas had not even touched a Zappy
until about an hour before the parade, getting all of his practice zapping around
the crowded staging area.
Zapping around the parade route was a whale of a lot of fun, and is highly recommended. We got a good crowd reaction, although all the excitement usually turned out to be in fact for:
We did get a very brief mention in the Raleigh News and Observer: "As the band moved on, men on motorized scooters, dogs in green bandanas, and a collection of antique cars caught the attention of the 8-year old from Pikeville..." The dogs and cars were right behind us, so we must be the men on motorized scooters (Jocelyn must have been letting her son have a turn at that point).
As
we waited for the parade to begin, we discovered that "Stormy", the
mascot of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, also was riding a Zappy in the
parade. So we asked him to come over for a picture in front of the electric
S-10. Stormy told me that he uses the Zappy every day, and expects a couple
more to arrive from Zapworld on Monday.
At the end of the parade route, the Friends of Ireland had organized a festival
in Moore Square park. Mark Todd had set up the TEAA's display unit, and by the
time we arrived (we were near the end of the parade) he was doing a booming
business selling raffle tickets to win one of the Zappys.
Many thanks to all who participated, and to our friends Richard and Jayne Howard
of Alternative Neighborhood Transportation and Ralph Goodwin for lending us
Zappys for the parade.
Respectfully submitted: Jon Mauney