Parade Will Bloom With New Balloons More Giant Cartoon Characters, Plus Light Show Join Festivities

Some big new faces will join the Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade procession when it winds through downtown Spokane tonight.

A 50-foot-tall Care Bear, 35-foot Droopy Dog and 18-foot Smiling Star will sway above the crowd.

The parade also will offer about 50 floats, 60 bands, and a variety of equestrian and other groups - 204 entries in all.

A KC-135 tanker from Fairchild Air Force Base will fly over Spokane Falls Boulevard at an elevation of 1,000 feet to start the parade at approximately 7:45 p.m. It will last about three hours.

Last year, for the first time, the parade included two giant balloons featuring cartoon figures. This year, there are five.

Underdog (40 feet) and Andy Panda (35 feet) will make their second appearance in the parade.

Generators attached to the base of the balloons will illuminate lights on the giant characters after dark.

Inflated with more than 18,000 cubic feet of helium and controlled by 20-man teams with tethers, the balloons must be dragged sideways under the 14-foot skywalks along the route.

“Last year was kind of a starting ground for us to see if they were going to work,” said Debbie Bever, the parade’s media coordinator.

New to the parade is a mobile laser light that will display cartoon images on buildings along the route.

Spectators seated in the bleachers at the end of the route will be able to watch the light demonstration on a 20-by-30-foot video screen suspended 40 feet off the ground.

Celebrants can start their day early with country-western music performed by Gretchen Peters, who won a Country Music Association award for best song in 1995, and was nominated for a Grammy Award last year. The free concert is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Clocktower Meadow in Riverfront Park.

Organizers are hoping the weather won’t put a damper on the activities. Thunder showers and a 52-degree temperature are expected at parade time.

“There’s 40 percent chance of showers, so there’s a 60 percent chance it will be dry,” said Debbie Danielson, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “It’s a crap shoot.”

Despite the forecast, parade officials still expect a crowd of 100,000 to line the parade route.

“It always depends on the rain, but we have a real loyal following in Spokane,” Bever said. “They start lining up at 7 a.m. They’re there for the day. They mark their spot.”

If rain does fall on the parade, it will be only the second time in its 58-year history.

“We’ve had a couple times when it rained up until parade time,” Bever said. “Then the skies opened up and we had a beautiful parade. So we know it won’t rain.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map: 1996 Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade route