It Doesn’t Rain on Dr. George’s Simi Valley Days Parade

The morning sun had just broken through the clouds Saturday when television weatherman Dr. George Fischbeck appeared atop a convertible holding an umbrella to lead the Simi Valley Days Parade.

The downpour that Fischbeck anticipated never materialized along the 1 1/4-mile parade route in Simi Valley, where he reigned as grand marshal.

However, he maintained a bright smile as he led a caravan of about 170 parade entries, including 20 floats, 12 marching bands, several beauty queens and a slew of dignitaries waving at onlookers from newly washed convertibles.

The parade included everything from a motorized bathtub pulling a life-size, fiberglass elephant to a troupe of belly dancers.

Hundreds of residents lined the route along Los Angeles Avenue with lawn chairs, blankets and even picnic tables.

But the best seat was at a heavy equipment rental business on the 1500 block of Los Angeles Avenue, where an employee in a yellow tank top sat about 15 feet in the air atop a raised forklift parked near the sidewalk.

Politicians took advantage of the throngs of potential constituents by lining the route with signs and distributing campaign literature, promotional balloons and paper fans. One candidate in the Nov. 6 Simi Valley City Council race hired an airplane to circle the parade route with a promotional banner in tow.

As the parade began to inch along the avenue, business activity came to a halt as shop owners left their businesses to watch the parade.

Jose Ruis, a mechanic at an automobile repair shop on the 1800 block of Los Angeles Avenue, sat in front of his shop with two fellow employees listening to the marching bands. “We can’t do any business, so here we are,” Ruis said with a shrug. “My favorite parts of the parade are the Corvettes and some of the girls.”

Nick Koep, 9, also had his eyes on a red Corvette that was part of the Simi Valley Corvette Club.

But Koep’s father, Steven, who was watching the parade with his son in the shade of the tree, tried to dissuade the youngster.

“Yeah, right. I’m going to rush right out and get you one,” he said.

The parade seemed to be a big hit with the children, and Ruth Aamot, 86, and her husband, Roy, 87, of Simi Valley were just as enthusiastic about the entertainment rolling past.

“When you get old enough, you get more and more childish,” Ruth Aamot said.

“I’m still a kid,” Roy Aamot said. “I’m not even 90 yet.”

At the middle of the parade was a Karate club with about two dozen boys and men demonstrating a series of punches and blocks. Shirley Hill, a Simi Valley resident who watched the parade from a blanket on the curb, jumped as the flying fists stopped inches from her nose.

“I wasn’t sure if they were going to come at me or not,” she said with a smile.

When the parade was over, Bradley Stemke, a 9-year-old Boy Scout who marched the entire route in the hot sun without a break, complained about tired feet.

Stemke said he would consider being in the parade again next year on one condition: “Only if I get to ride my bike through it.”