Strutting in style through Coconut Grove

December 28, 8:06 PMMiami Travel ExaminerGeorge Leposky

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Little Miss Mango participants
© George Leposky

The weirdest parade in the universe – the 27th annual King Mango Strut – wound its hilarious way through the center of Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, December 28th, 2008, to the delight and amusement of some 6,000 spectators.

The satirical parade, which began as a spoof of the long-defunct King Orange Jamboree, continues to thrive year after year by poking fun at public figures and events.

High points of the 2008 parade included:

-- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin walking beside a band called the Wasilla Drill Billies, chasing a moose, and being captured by Somali pirates.
 

China’s Olympic Gymnastics
Team © George Leposky

-- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich trying to sell a chair that represented Barack Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate.

-- A barrage of shoes being hurled at President George W. Bush.

-- Assorted bankers, financial bigwigs, and auto-industry executives who had fallen on hard times. Marching with one such group was the Foreclosure Fairy.

-- China’s Olympic Gymnastics Team, nine obviously pre-pubescent girls wearing signs that said, “I am 16! I swear!” and “I am not as young as I look!”

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
trying to sell Barack Obama’s
U.S. Senate Seat © George Leposky

-- Miami Code Enforcement Officers handing out citations for such innocuous activities as sneezing, having untied shoes, smiling, breathing, sitting on the curb, and laughing.  (This relates to a recent vigorous code-enforcement effort that has had Groveites in a tizzy.)

-- Astronauts trying to fix the malfunctioning toilet aboard the International Space Station.

Bringing up the rear, performing atop a flatbed lumber truck, the RoadKill band played a catchy dance tune called The Mangobama (which you can hear on the Strut's Web site)  for a gleeful throng of dancers following the truck.

The dance itself has only the most rudimentary of instructions: wiggle your ears, turn left, turn back, spin around a basketball and bump your fist, empty your pockets and cover your tush.  Otherwise, you're free to improvise - a useful skill that we all must hope the Obama administration has successfully mastered by the time it takes office.