Save Tillie... Beyond the Palace
Tillie on Parade, Ocean Grove and Asbury Park
Independence Day Weekend - 2005

There  is no quicker opportunity to find out what people are thinking than at  a  parade.  The  bands are playing and the fire truck sirens are blaring, but  still,  while you're marching down the street, you hear what the spec- tators are saying.  Clearly.

Those  of  us  who  marched  with  Save  Tillie  in  the  Ocean Grove and Asbury Park  parades  heard  great  feedback.  Kids all along the parade routes  got  very  excited  seeing Tillie coming down the street.  We could hear  them  telling  their  parents:  "Here  comes Tillie!"  "Look, it's Tillie!" and  shouting  "Hi Tillie!"  We could hear many of the older people saying how  much  they  missing  the  Palace  and saying "thank you" to the Save Tillie  crew.  And  at least six times, people came out of the crowd to ask us where to find the Palace Museum (Palaceamusements.com).

In short, the parades this weekend were a wonderful experience.

Thanks  to Ralph McGeehan, who took great photos, we have photos up on the Save Tillie, so you can see our float for yourself.  As in years past, the  float  consisted  of an original Palace Ferris wheel carriage, filled with Save Tillie  members  and  their  families,  and a carousel horse ridden by Tillie.  The  big  addition  this  year (thank  you, Dan Toskaner and Frank Saragnese!)  were  two  bumper cars, looking very much like the bumper car  murals  from  the Palace walls.  The bumper cars traveled behind the main  float.  Our  celebrity  rider  in  Asbury  Park  was  none  other  than former Asbury Park City Councilwoman Kate Mellina, who played a huge role in helping us save the Palace bumper car murals. 

When  you  hear  those  happy  kids  responding  to  Tillie, and the adults lamenting the loss of the Palace, it makes you realize all over again what a mistake  Asbury  Partners made by insisting on Palace demolition.  It also drives  home  the  importance of  having  saved  Tillie and the bumper car murals and all of those internal artifacts.   The association between Palace icons  and  Asbury  Park  remains  very strong and people will be excited once  Tillie  and  the  bumper  car  murals  are  back  on public display at Kingsley and Cookman.

So  our  thanks  for  great  team  work  go  out  to  Dan Toskaner, Frank Saragnese,  June  Lisk,  Carl  and  Kathy  Beams,  Gregory  and  Bonnie Raymer,  Mary  Lynn  Purcel,  Dan  Van  Pelt,  Ralph McGeehan, Kathy Cherry,  Anne Noss,  Mark Uzzo, Chris Flynn, Kylene Jenkins, Elizabeth Flynn  (our toddler trooper),  Kate Mellina,  and  all  the family members, soon-to-be  family members, and partners who made these parades such a success.

Bob Crane for the Save Tillie Board
Save Tillie
Beyond the Palace