DooDah Parade

Neewollah Generalissimo Mindy Blackard announces Barry and Lori Wesselowski as King and Queen Doo Dah for this year’s Doo Dah parade on Thursday, October 23rd.

Lori and Barry have lived in Independence since 1992. They met while attending Baker University and have been married for 33 years. They have three grown children; Erin, Alex and Anna. Barry is a Podiatrist in Independence and owner of Family Podiatry. His past Neewollah involvement includes serving as an Escort Co-Chair and helping with the Grand Parade. He is a member of the Wheeler Dealers Investment group. Lori has been a realtor with Coldwell Banker Pasternak Johnson for the past 10 years. Lori is very active in the community and has been very involved with Neewollah over the years. She was on the Neewollah Board for nine years and served as Generalissimo in 2021. She has been on numerous Neewollah committees some of which include Sponsorship, Escort Chair, Queens Director, Judges Chair, and numerous other Queen Neelah committees. Lori has helped produce three Neewollah musicals, her most recent one being Elf. Lori said, “The Doo Dah Parade has always been one of my favorite parts of Neewollah. I love dressing up and acting crazy! Thank you to Generalissimo Mindy Blackard for asking us to be King and Queen Doo Dah, it is one of the greatest honors of my life!”

There will be a contest for Best Individual Costume and Best Group Costume. Winners will receive Main Street Bucks. Participants that want to be part of the contest will meet at Memorial hall at 5:15pm for judges to determine winners.

How the Doo Dah Parade Started, by Steve Wilkin

In 1993 I had the privlege as serving as Neewollah Generalissimo. We were looking at revenue items and thought that between the carnival opening on Wednesday and the Kiddie Parade on Friday, there was a pretty big hole on Thursday nights. At our Neewollah evaluation meeting the prior December, somebody made the comment that there were too many adults in the Kiddie Parade. I shot off my big mouth and said, "Well maybe we need to have a parade for the adults". I don't know why I remembered that but it was from that wisecrack that I decided to take a chance on Thursday night. I had seen in the newspaper that a parade had been formed called the Doo Dah parade in Southern California. I figured if you're going to steal...steal from the best. It was also taken from the signature line of Stephen Foster's immortal song, "The Camptown Ladies". Anyway I thought it was pretty funny. We formed a Doo Dah parade committee and we were off and running. We decided there would be no rules and anybody could do anything they wanted. Because of that we had no idea who was going to show up. That Thursday night my wife and I were driving to the parade and I saw a huge crowd forming for the first Doo Dah parade. I was afraid there would be nobody in front of Memorial Hall to walk down the street with me. But then one group showed up. And another group. And another and another. The first year I asked Jerry and Gwen Webb to be King and Queen Doo Dah. They rode down the street on a float adorned with toilet seats. Now its an annual event. I have participated in some form of it every year. Usually with the current board of directors. Its about 20 minutes of your life that you'll never get back. But it costs nothing and it makes people laugh. A lot of people. Reason enough to keep it going.