4th of July parade, Belmond, IA
July 4th, 1974.

By

Gary Larsen

As I recall, Tom Wilson and Rick Bonte were from Belmond and knew of its annual 4th of July parade. They (and we) thought it would be cool to enter an Impeach Nixon “float” in the parade. Our “float” was a flatbed trailer with Impeach Nixon signs on it. Those of us riding were supposed to represent different groups in society with, of course, Tricky Dick and his CIA sidekick. I was expecting a hostile reception. After all, we were a bunch of hippies invading their parade. However, we received a surprisingly warm reception. As I understand it, some people were quite upset, which was part of the plan.

 

 But most people, if they didn’t support us, politely let us pass without comment.

Rick Bonte was pulling the “float” with his van. Since the weather was so hot, he took his shirt off and opened the back doors of the van. Toward the end of the parade, we stopped for a bit, and apparently, the van was overheating. This was one of those vans with the engine between the driver’s and passenger’s seats, so Rick opened the engine cover. He then unscrewed the radiator cap and was immediately sprayed with scalding hot water. A cloud of steam filled the van as Rick jumped out and ran into the crowd. Some people, thinking this was part of the show, started clapping, but stopped as soon as they realized it wasn’t. Someone then jumped into the van and shut it off.

Fortunately, Rick wasn’t seriously injured, but as you might expect, this was the end of the parade for us.