"CollinWoodStockers"" take First Prize in Duck Tape Parade

In mid-June, a hearty band of Collinwood artists, friends, and their kids forded the mighty Cuyahoga River (Not really--we drove on I-90.) and went west to compete in the annual Duck Tape parade in Avon. They represented Collinwood well and returned with first prize, a purse of $1,000 and a trophy, commemorating the win.

Avon, Ohio is, as you probably know, the home of Duck Tape. Every Father's Day weekend, Avon celebrates its' Duck tape heritage  with a weekend-long festival, beginning with a parade of floats covered in colorful Duck tape. 

Collinwood resident Dan Chambers found out in March that the theme of this year's parade was "Peace, Love, and Duck Tape", Remembering the 1960's, 70's and 80's". Being a child of that era, he called Collinwood artist Joan Deveney (aka Joan of Art) who, along with most of the adults in this story, also grew up in the 1960's.

They came up with the idea of re-creating a duck tape version of the "Bed In for Peace", the 1969 event where John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent literally a week in bed in a Toronto hotel, inviting their friends and the media in an effort to highlight their opposition to the war in Vietnam.

The week culminated in Lennon's recording, "Give Peace a Chance" in the room. In photos of the event, John and Yoko appear in white pajamas in a hotel room filled with flowers. Posters covered the walls with sayings such as "Hair Peace" and "Bed Peace". The "CollinWoodStockers" did it all--in Duck Tape.

To put the float together, Dan and Joan recruited Dan's wife Louise Foresman, Parade the Circle veterans Lori Lane and Jay Bentoff, friends Sky MacDonald and daughter Autumn, etc. They commandeered their kids--Dan's son Devlin, Joan's daughter Jessica, Jessica's friend Forrest, Jay's daughter Galen, and, well you get the picture. It took a lot of people, a lot of time, and a lot of duck tape.

For added nostalgia, the group included Richard Nixon, Puff the Magic Dragon and a paper mache model of planet earth--all of which had to be covered in Duck Tape of course. Even "John and Yoko"'s hair was made from Duck tape.

"Once we got to Avon on parade day and saw the competition, we thought we had a pretty good chance to win something," says Dan. "We hoped we would win at least enough to cover the cost of the duck tape." 

But could a group from the east side of Cleveland, who had never previously worked together on anything, let alone compete for the top prize in the famed Duck tape parade win or even place in the competition? "We were nervous," says Dan.

As the category winners were read--Grooviest, Best Adherence to Theme, Most Colorful, Best Use of Duck Tape, their hopes sank. Finally, the winner of "Tip Top Tape" was announced..."The CollinWoodStockers"!!! 

Will they compete next year and bring more glory to Collinwood? They're thinking about it.