Balloon Platoon just keeps on marching Balloon Platoon just keeps on marching (June 25, 2004)

by Jeb Bing

W hen Dave Muck leads Pleasanton's famed Balloon Platoon down Main Street tomorrow, 30 years of rollicking history will be marching behind him. The organization's anniversary celebration, starting with its annual march as part of the Alameda County Fair parade, will also mark the largest number of Balloon Platoon members ever since its founding as part of the Pleasanton Presbyterian Church's "Mariners Ship" men's social group effort. Their first entry was a Viking Ship on wheels in one of the early parades in 1973, a spectacular float with sails that shifted in the wind and oars that actually rowed.

But it was too much work, so the Mariners decided to spoof the Camp Parks Job Corps, which fielded ramrod straight army-like solders in crisp military uniforms for city parades. Organized by Brad Hirst, a real estate developer, and former Realtor Dick Howard, who now lives near Aspen, Colo., and building on the military theme, they chose sailor uniforms made from sheets and worn over truck-size inner tubes. For the group's grand marshal - or commodore - they chose a special uniform which Muck will wear tomorrow - a vintage admiral's-like coat with epaulets and captain's hat. Rather than swords or rifles, Muck will be brandishing a toilet plunger as his platoon baton, with the rank and file wearing white gloves to carry their yellow-handled mops.

The Balloon Platoon was an immediate crowd-pleaser when it debuted at the 1974 Good Times KNBR Parade downtown, and the rest is history. Besides thrilling thousands of young and old over the past 30 years in Pleasanton, the platoon is asked to perform in scores of events around the country each year, usually choosing only a few. It performed in London's first Christmas Day parade, at the San Diego Holiday Bowl, in Edinburgh and with the Sun City Dancing Grandmothers at the Fiesta Bowl, a half-time highlight that brought standing ovations. Last year the group made its first Asian trip, marching in the Chinese New Year Parade in Singapore. This July 4, the 60-member Balloon Platoon will make its first split, with one section marching in Philadelphia while the other makes the group's traditional appearance in the Piedmont Independence Day parade locally.

Muck, 65, who recently retired from the telecommunications industry, is the Balloon Platoon's second commodore, taking over from Howard 10 years ago. Over the years, 120 men have marched with the Platoon, and more than 100 are registered for the anniversary dinner tomorrow night at the Crowne Plaza. Many of the veterans, including Howard who will march with Hirst in the back row, will join in tomorrow's parade, donning the traditional sailor outfits and joining in the serpentine marches through the crowds along the parade route. Three of those who will be marching are in their 80s, including Hollis Duckett, who at 84 is the oldest. Although still a men's-only group, Muck says spouses play an equally important role by helping their husbands with the increasingly difficult task of squeezing into the inner tubes, and then to repairing any tears in the queen-size sheets the men wear over white shorts and T-shirts. Once "uniformed," the men have no opportunities for pit stops or a chance to sit down and relax during parades that can last up to two hours in sweltering heat.

Tomorrow, the marchers will suit up at Amador Valley High and practice in the parking lot behind the school on Del Valle Parkway before heading out onto Main Street in the Fair parade's No. 10 position. From there, they'll follow the parade route and also march through the Fairgrounds to the back gate where their wives will be waiting with cool drinks and helpful hands to get the fun-loving sailors back into cooler and less restrictive civvies once again.

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