HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-11-07, Page 26After being turned away from the
Kitchener/Waterloo Oktoberfest
parade over 20 years ago, Brussels’
Don McNeil’s 1928 Model A Ford
jumped through some hoops and
was on the parade route for this
year’s famed event.
It was earlier this year when
McNeil was approached at the
Mildmay Fall Fair and the wheels
began turning to get McNeil’s car in
the Oktoberfest parade.
In Mildmay McNeil was
approached by Jean Weiler,
Oktoberfest’s parade director asking
him to come to Kitchener for the
parade.
“To be asked by the lead person,
what a privilege,” McNeil said last
week in an interview with The
Citizen.
After he was asked, however,
accepting wasn’t automatic, as he
asked himself a number of
questions. He felt it was a gamble
for the car, and still slighted by being
turned away years earlier, McNeil
didn’t know what to do. However, it
came down to the car and he said
that if the car could handle the
parade, he would do it.
In preparation for the parade,McNeil had to answer nearly 40questions pertaining to the safety of
his vehicle. The parade’s regulations
are some of the most strict he has
seen in all his years of parades, he
said.
McNeil received some help,
however, in the form of Huron East
Economic Development Officer Jan
Hawley who began lobbying on
McNeil’s behalf and Sholdice
Insurance, which granted McNeil a
special, one-day insurance policy to
cover the liability requirements of
the parade.
Once he knew he was covered,
McNeil travelled to Kitchener with
his family, including his son Dan
and friend Randy Zinn from
Wingham, who would both ride in
the parade with him.
Decorating the car, McNeil said,
took him nearly four hours, while at
the same time he had to be ready for
the parade’s police escort at 6 a.m.
The experience of the parade,
however, was one that he’ll never
forget.
“I know it’s not always the best
way to represent Brussels,” McNeil
said of the car, often called the
Brussels Hillbilly car, which is
adorned with everything from
mannequins to a small drum kit, “but
I went for it anyway.”
Over the course of the parade,McNeil figures that he drove the carabout 12 miles, but it was worth it to
see the thousands of people excited
and happy on the day of the parade.
The trip required four different
batteries, a new set of spark plugs
and a steady supply of ice, to be put
in the tea kettle on the hood to keep
the engine cool, but the car made the
trip.
The parade was well organized,
McNeil said, as he and his family
were back in Brussels by 3 p.m. that
day.
McNeil figures that he has
appeared in over 250 parades and the
Oktoberfest parade stands second
only to a Santa Claus parade in
Barrie, which he said was one of the
biggest he has ever seen.
He jokes about aspirations of
appearing in the Rose Bowl and
Cotton Bowl parades in the United
States, saying that perhaps one day
he’ll get there.
PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013.McNeil rides proud in Oktoberfest parade
Taking his show on the road
Don McNeil of Brussels took his parade car to Kitchener last month for the city’s annual
Oktoberfest parade, which is part of the second-largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world.
McNeil is seen above driving down Kitchener’s main street and he is seen below with the
event’s banner. (Photos submitted)
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