From Joey Skaggs:

SUMMARY:
For three decades, New York City’s Annual April Fools’ Day Parade has offered the public an opportunity to express, in a comical way, its outrage against the foolishness of mankind. Thousands of participants in look-alike costumes with satirical floats creatively mock the thoughtless, corrupt and selfish acts of the past year. Kicking off at noon on Sunday, April 1, the parade will march down 5th Avenue from 59th Street to Washington Square Park where revelers will party to demonstrate against new rules that restrict the First Amendment rights of performing artists in the park. It will conclude with the annual crowning of the King of Fools. Spread the word!

PRESS RELEASE:
The 27th Annual April Fools”™ Day Parade will begin at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street at 12 noon, Sunday, April 1, 2012. Rain or shine, the parade will march down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square Park for the climactic selection of the King or Queen of Fools from the costumed marching look-alikes.

The New York April Fools”™ Day Parade was created in 1986 to remedy a glaring omission in the long list of New York”™s ethnic and holiday parades. These events fail to recognize the importance of April 1st, the day designated to commemorate the folly of mankind. In an attempt to bridge this gap and bring people back in touch with their inherent foolishness, the parade annually crowns a King or Queen of Fools from parading look-alikes. The King of Fools from the 2011 parade was Speaker of the House John Boehner.

“Every year the parade gets bigger and more outrageous. There’s never a shortage of fools,” says Joey Skaggs, parade organizer.

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From Joey Skaggs:

From Joey Skaggs:

The 25th Annual April Fools”™ Day Parade will begin at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street at 12 noon, Thursday, April 1, 2010. Rain or shine, the parade will march down 5th Avenue to Washington Square Park for the post-parade festivities and selection of the King or Queen of Fools from the costumed marching look-alikes.

The theme for this year”™s parade is “Up, Up and Away.” Led by Grand Marshall Ben Bernanke, the parade will kick off with the Where”™s-the-Money Marching Band playing this year”™s theme song by the Fifth Dimension “Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon.” Color commentary will be provided by Sarah Palin for her new Fox TV show “We Make It Up, You Believe It.” Thanks to a contribution by a secret donor in honor of the parade”™s 25th anniversary, 10,000 red, white and blue helium balloons, each with a crisp one-dollar bill attached, will be released along the parade route.

The floats this year will be led by Richard and Mayumi Heene with their Homemade Helium Flying Saucer Float. Next will be the Northwest Airlines Flight 188 “Siesta” Cockpit Float with pilot Timothy B. Cheney and first officer Richard I. Cole napping. Then a North Korea Missile Launch Float will launch H2O bombs into the crowd. The OK Corral Float will follow featuring Washington Wizards basketball stars Gilbert Arena and Javaris Crittenton with their guns a’blazing. Although we don”™t know what will be going on inside, Washington’s “C” Street House Float will come next. Then comes the Late Night TV Roman Chariot Race with Jay Leno, Conan O”™Brien and David Letterman pulled by network execs instead of horses as they battle for position. (more…)

From Joey Skaggs:

New York, New York, March 30, 2009 — The 24th Annual April Fools’ Day Parade will begin at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street at 12 noon, Wednesday, April 1st, 2009. Rain or shine, the parade will march down to 23rd Street, where it will continue down Broadway to Union Square Park for post-parade festivities. For several blocks, the parade route will require a mad dash through a gauntlet of teetering construction cranes.

The theme for this year’s parade is “Take the Money and Run.” Led by Grand Marshall Bernard Madoff, the parade will kick off with the SEC Marching Band playing the Beatles’ hit song “Money.” Spectators are requested to participate by photo-copying hundred dollar bills and tossing them out windows or from roof-tops at the passing parade instead of confetti. (more…)