King Mango Strut
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The King Mango Strut is an annual parade held in Coconut Grove, Florida on the last Sunday of each year. The motto of the parade is "Putting the NUT in CocoNUT Grove."
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[edit] History
The parade was started in 1982 by Glenn Terry and the late Bill Dobson as a parody of the annual King Orange Jamboree parade for the Orange Bowl. After a group of Grove residents, known as the "Mango Marching Band" were denied entry into the Orange Bowl parade due to "unsuitable instruments" such as kazoos and conch shells, they decided to create their own parade.
[edit] About the Parade
The spirit of the King Mango Strut is significantly tongue-in-cheek. Participants are willing to poke fun at anything and everything. Most of the parade consists of satire of events that have happened in the last year, from world events to state to local. Nothing is off-limits, and the boundaries of good taste are often pushed or broken in the name of irreverent comedy. For example, co-founder Bill Dobson died from cancer in October 2004, but made an appearance in the 2004 Mango Strut, in the form of an urn, with ashes being strewn along the parade route. A group followed with brooms and vacuums followed, trying to "get Bill out of the road." Organizers do have some humility, however; the ashes were not actually Bill's remains but regular fireplace ash mixed with kitty litter. However, a sign rode along with Bill's urn, proclaiming "Hey, I may be dead, but I can still vote in Miami."
In November 2006, the strut decided to put its Grand Marshall title, formerly held by such notables as Janet Reno, up for bid on eBay. As of November 17, the bidding had climbed to $5,000 .
