I am looking for some ideas for parade riding with a group. What works well for group skills, formations, stunts, etc.
We have some parades coming up and time is getting short so keep it simple. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
I rode my Coker in a Veterans Day parade yesterday, the crowd seemed to like it a lot when I wheel walked, and when I rode really fast. I also did some 1 foot riding but that didn’t impress them as much.
On a smaller unicycle, I would try backwards riding, wheel walking, and doing some fancy one foot riding (like leg over knee or out in front.
We had about 40 riders in our parade, the giraffes went in columns and it the parade slowed down they did “ride backs” where the columns went in a big flat oval. The little kids on the 20" did columns, random riding, and stars (holding hands going in a circle)
4 people in the middle and 4 more outside of them holding hands.
We’ve just added a new twist to our parade “routine” (besides the smile and wave gig). We carry a hank of rope and when the parade stops for band performances, etc., one of our members will see how many times they can jump rope with two club members (dismounted) at each end of the jump-rope. We will get the crowd involved by encouraging them to count out-loud, clap and cheer. It is really fun.
The routine that I, personally, use is I pretend to be totally out of control and wobble, arms flapping wildly, and head straight into the crowd at the curb’s edge, turing at the very last nanosecond (with a wink and a smile). However, most of our club members have long since realized that this is not really a performance since I really am out of control!
Tommy
Here are some of the parade things we do:
Big Wheels. We have a 40" The Unicycle Factory big wheel and a coker. (I’ve seen JF and Bill Gilberson do some cool pirouettes on their TUF unis.)
Drill Team. Formation riding group performs circle drills, line drills, figure 8’s etc. (See GILD’s link).
Giraffes, especially if you can free mount.
Jugglers.
Jump Ropers
Jump Overs. A real crowd pleaser.
Real young riders, major cuteness factor.
BC Wheel.
Sound System. Loud music makes you better.
Here are a few more parade threads:
Parade Training, Crazy Parade riding., 4th of July Parades!.
I was gonna post a link to the 4th of July parade thread but Unibrier beat me to it.
I’ll be getting some new folks into a parade for their first time on Dec 3 for a Christmas parade. Should be fun.
Bill