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 The Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passes through downtown Wapakoneta Wednesday, September 1. Staff photo/William Laney By CARLA MEYER
Staff Writer
For 45 minutes, the roar of motorcycles could be heard passing under an American flag hanging from two ladder trucks. For 45 minutes, area residents gathered in the shadow of the Auglaize County Courthouse and Wapakoneta Fire Station waved and clapped as motorcyclists rode by.
The smiles and waves turned into clapping and cheers as the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passed down Willipie Street on its way to Custenborder Field in Sidney where it was greeted by a field of American flags.
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Float builders aim to please |
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Friday, 23 October 2009 |
 A giant spider is tugged along Auglaize Street Thursday night during the annual Wapakoneta Halloween Parade. The float, constructed by employees at the Otterbein, in Cridersville, came complete with motorized legs powered by chains and gears. Staff photo/William Laney By MATT NICHOLS
Staff Writer
D.J. Nuss admits he messed up two years ago.
The float he and Troy Stolzenburg created for the 2007 Wapakoneta Halloween Parade was the talk of the town — a massive pirate ship sailing under the orange lights on Auglaize Street.
In fact, the float was so good, it raised an unrealistic bar for future years.
“We got ourselves in trouble doing that good on our first time out,” said Nuss, who is the environmental services director at Otterbein, in Cridersville. “It was really nice.”
On Thursday, Nuss and company unleashed their newest creation on the downtown, one he said is the best one yet.
Midway through Thursday night’s parade, in between the marching bands and fire engines, emerged an arachnid of gargantuan proportions. A giant spider, with eight legs creeping past the thousands who lined Auglaize Street.
The float, complete with menacing red eyes garnered a lot of looks from parade goers, and that’s just what Nuss said he expects.
It was more than two years ago when Nuss and Stolzenburg, who is Otterbein’s maintenance supervisor, took the duty of creating a Halloween float for the facility. Their first concoction, a giant pirate ship, was an instant success.
“We had a bunch of paneling on it which made it look like wood, and I remember going by everyone and a little kid looked up and said, ‘Now that’s a float,’” Nuss said. “We certainly aim to get the ooh and ah out of it.”
After the pirate ship, Nuss and Stolzenburg created a giant UFO with 30 lights illuminated around it. Once again, the design was a big winner with the residents, and left the two with the daunting task of topping themselves once again.
This year, Nuss said they accomplished their task with a lot more bang for their buck.
“It’s made with just a lot of the stuff laying around here,” Nuss said. “It’s the cheapest one yet.”
The spider’s body is primarily chicken wire and the task of creating moving legs was solved with a couple gears, a chain and a old $25 farm motor.
“It doesn’t cost a lot money, but it does take a lot of time,” Nuss said. “But it’s all worth it.”
Nuss said the idea of creating unique floats came with the hope of other businesses following their lead to help expand on the parade. Most businesses haven’t taken that extra step, but Nuss said the efforts have still generated talk about his employer.
“It gets us out there, and gets people talking about us,” Nuss said. “People ask us every year now what we’re going to do.”
When the parade ended Thursday, the spider earned Otterbein more hardware with the Grand Marshall award.
While Otterbein employees worked on their float, students in the Wapakoneta FFA toiled away on their entry. The spooky float was complete with ghosts, a witch and a scarecrow, but FFA instructor Ron Brown said the project was more about teamwork, and less about creating something scary.
“It’s just a nice, fun camaraderie project,” Brown said. “Something for the kids to get together and get along.”
Approximately 25 students worked on the project, just a fraction of the 130 students in the FFA, but Brown said that figure is about the same every year.
“Some people love doing this and some could care less,” Brown said. “We just take those who want to do it and we let them loose.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 October 2009 )
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