By MADDY VITALE
They strutted. They hummed, or rather howled, a tune. Some wore zany costumes. Others looked simply demure in their colorful bonnets. All of them seemed to command attention in the downtown and Boardwalk in Ocean City on Saturday.
After all, there were 300 of them. Basset hounds and their owners took part in the annual Doo Dah parade. They paraded through Ocean City’s downtown before heading up to the Boardwalk where they were greeted by many spectators.
The annual event, in its 35th year, continues to entertain, amuse and delight people of all ages. It is the city’s season-opener to a long list of events and activities scheduled throughout the spring and summer.
The parade procession featured string bands, marching bands, floats, crown holders including Miss New Jersey Alyssa Marie Sullivan, Mr. Mature Jack Merritt, and the grand marshals were Philadelphia Flyers legends Jimmy and Joe Watson.
Crescent Shriner’s Mini Cars amused onlookers who took cellphone pictures and video of the silly spectacle.
Sherry and Ron Robb, of Ocean City, and Sherry’s niece, Melissa Budnick, of Pitman in Gloucester County, and her children, Michaela, 11, and 5-year-old Axel, picked a prime spot on the boards to watch the parade unfold.
“It’s great. Every year we really have a good time,” Sherry Robb said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The Robb family first stopped for slices of pizza so that they could turn their complete attention on the parade when it made its way to the Boardwalk.
“We have a strategy,” Sherry Robb said with a laugh.
The parade route began on Sixth Street downtown, traveled up to 12th Street then onto the Boardwalk, where it made its way back down to Sixth Street.
The Doo Dah Parade is the main fundraiser for the Tri-State Basset Hound Rescue group.
The affable hounds made their way through the crowds and many of them seemed to go the distance, albeit rather slowly, and with needed water breaks. Some hounds rode in wagons, others on floats, and many others walked.
Carol Radle, of Avoca, Pa., brought her 5-year-old granddaughter, Penelope for the day of fun.
“We like it. We come every year. We really come because we love the dogs,” she noted.
Radle and her granddaughter even wore hats with matching faux fluffy dog ears.
“We can’t wait to see them,” Radle said of the hounds as they made their way up to 10th Street and the Boardwalk, where they anxiously awaited their arrival.
Linda Hotaling, of Fultonville, N.Y., brought her two pooches – Emma Jean, who donned a white bonnet, and Ellie Mae, who was “pretty in pink” in her hat.
“We do the parade every year. They seem to like it,” Hotaling said as her bassets zig-zagged through the maze of hounds.
After the parade, a long line formed in front of the Music Pier of Flyers fans who wanted to meet the grand marshals, brothers Jimmy and Joe Watson.
The brothers were part of the Broad Street Bullies team that won two Stanley Cup titles in the 1970s and both are members of the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame. They chatted and joked with fans as they signed autographs.
