Volunteers work on the White's Road Park Charlie float for Saturday's Mardi Gras Parade in Lansdale at Eclipse Center for Creative Community. (Credit: Eclipse CCC)
All through the week, and on Saturday during the annual Lansdale parade, the group is accepting donations, volunteers and candy.
In death, Lansdale’s White’s Road Park Charlie continues to inspire people to come together.
The White’s Road Park Charlie and Sonny Mardi Gras Parade Float group has partnered with Stray Cat Blues to collect food, toys, litter, and other feline items all this week and Saturday during the annual parade.
All donations can be brought to the parade to be collected along the parade route or at the end of the parade at Memorial Park, where Mayor Garry Herbert will be proclaiming Charlie, “The Honorary Mayor of White’s Road Park.”
A table will be at Memorial Park at the end of the parade as a Stray Cat Blues donation location and as the place to purchase Charlie calendars. All proceeds from the calendar sales will go back to reimbursement of the float build team for out-of-pocket float expenses. Volunteers are wanted to help man the table during the parade.
Volunteers work on the White's Road Park Charlie float for Saturday's Mardi Gras Parade in Lansdale at Eclipse Center for Creative Community. (Credit: Eclipse CCC)Furthermore, Stray Cat Blues will be displaying pictures and statistics of their adoptable cats who are hoping for a new home for Christmas.
Donations can also be dropped off at Eclipse Center for Creative Community art studio before the parade. The studio is next to Lansdale Post Office at 30 Vine St.
There is a SignUpGenius where people can donate money online or sign up to be a walker in the parade. There are about a dozen York Avenue Elementary students helping to design and build the float and will walk in memory of Charlie on Saturday.
The float organizers, who have spent the last few months planning and coordinating a lot of volunteers' schedules to make the memory of Charlie a lasting one via an "It's A Wonderful Life" theme, are also in need of lots of candy to be handed out during the parade. Bring leftover Halloween candy to Eclipse as well during the week.
Candy donations and purchases of items for the float are also being accepted by the public. An Amazon Wish List for the float can be found here, with items being shipped directly to Eclipse: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2PJ6AJ9TSMTDJ
Volunteers work on the White's Road Park Charlie float for Saturday's Mardi Gras Parade in Lansdale at Eclipse Center for Creative Community. (Credit: Eclipse CCC)Douglas L. Gibson Enterprises Inc. will be sponsoring the float.
On Saturday, the float will be lining up by 11 a.m. in front of 925 Columbia Ave. The parade kicks off at 1 p.m., at Main Street and Mitchell Avenue and ends at Memorial Park on East Main Street.
