OCEAN CITY – The early forecast for the weekend looks sunny and mild, and Ocean City will be ready to welcome spring and the end of tax season with the annual Doo Dah Parade on Saturday, April 13.
The Doo Dah Parade is Ocean City’s season-opening celebration of all things humorous. The procession features marching bands, floats and a brigade of hundreds of basset hounds. The parade starts at noon Saturday. The route starts at Sixth Street and travels downtown Asbury Avenue to 12th Street, then turns to the Boardwalk at 12th Street and finishes on the boardwalk at Sixth Street.
The First Ocean City Doo Dah Parade was held on April 19, 1986. Late Ocean City publicist Mark Soifer based it on the original Doo Dah Parade, a spoof of the Rose Bowl Parade, held in Pasadena, California. Ocean City’s event is always scheduled close to Tax Day, and it serves as a way to blow off steam after filing income taxes. It’s also a great way to welcome a new season in Ocean City.
Philadelphia Flyers great Brian Propp will be the grand marshal of the parade.
Propp surpassed 400 goals, 1,000 games and 1,000 points in a 15-season National Hockey League career. He is a member of the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame and is third on the team’s all-time scoring list with 850 career points as a Flyer. Propp played in five Stanley Cup championships and five NHL all-star games. He went on to become a sports broadcaster, entrepreneur, business relationship and development guru and a philanthropist in the community.
“I’m honored to have Brian lead our parade this year,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “He’s a legend to all Flyers fans and a class act in every way.”
Propp will be available for free autographs and pictures at the Ocean City Music Pier for an hour after the parade.
Some highlights will include the Ocean City High School Marching Band, the Hobo Band, the Jersey String Band, the Woodland String Band, Crescent Shriner’s Mini Cars, the Fred Hall Orchestra and the Atlantic City Fire Department Sandpipers Band.