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* Award for representation of the theme.
* Cow float supported by Cal Aggie Alumni Association.
* Mad Cow String Band a hit.
* Artifacts loaned to PDay committee for cow milking contest.
* Coordinated tractor & driver for PDay Board of Directors parade entry.
* Loaned trailer to Vet School entry.
* Staging area notes

This year we won the parade award for best representation of the theme, Shifting Gears for 90 Years. No money, though.

The CAAA provided $200 in support of our float. We used the money for two new tires for the pulling tractor (2010) and various supplies to mechanize the cow arm to a gear shifter, mechanize three shafts with gears, mechanize a rotating tower with our banner, make presents covering up the hyrdraulic drive and sprokects, make posterboard gears and a decorative symbolic cake. The mechanized cow was a hit at the Parade and at the Exhibit.

We invited the Mad Cow String Band, a local bluegrass band comprised of students and researchers, to ride behind the cow, and this was a great success. We made significant improvements to a four-wheel steel trailer (tracks straight behind a pulling vehicle), installed a hitch on the cow trailer, built a generator platform for the front of the pulling trailer, and designed and wired an emergency stop circuit from the band trailer to the tractor engine. The band was clearly a hit throughout the parade eliciting applause and attention all the way, and definitely made up for some of the sound problems they apparently had later in the day on one of the stages on campus. We also appreciated their poster and recognition of our assistance "Antique Mechanics Club presents the Mad Cow String Band." They applied to Picncic Day as a separate group but affiliated with us. PDay was pleased about this collaboration because there were very few musical entries in the Parade.

Cow milking coordinators picked up and returned two milk cans, two fruit boxes, two shovels, two wooden wagon wheels, two lengths of manila rope, and a metal pulley wheel. They said they would take a picture and keep a list so that next year they wouldn't have to re-figure it all out again. Part of this year's deal was for them to provide us a picture of the artifacts in use.

Because PDay BOD's expected horses and then tractor support fell through, they asked us about an old tractor. Having no reliable old tractor nor driver, especially for parade spot #5 (we were #25) we enlisted Dept Chair Bruce Hartsough as the driver and a brand new tractor from Jim Rumsey at Western Center for Ag Equipment. When we went to pickup the tractor and trailer at 4 am, we found the hay bales borrowed and the ignition switch broken. We reclaimed the hay bales from the float being worked on at WCAE and jump started the really old and ugly 830, and then took both of them over to the staging area to at least have something. We went back to Antiques and found an ignition switch we just happened to have scrounged a few years earlier from a departmental "house-cleaning" and were able to install it after disassembling the cowling and installing customized wire ends. The bundle of wires were taped together and strung out through an opening, because the switch would not fit in the existing hole. Later, we re-jumpstarted the 830, drove it back, and came back with the new hot-wired tractor. All went well, and we even had Bruce's requested "How's My Driving..." sign tape atop the roll bar.

The Vet School club inquired about a trailer, once again, this year. We were able to provide them with the one we have been providing Cal Aggie Student Alumni Network, because CASAN elected not to enter a float this year. The Vet School won the float competition, seemingly as usual. They included a nice thank you banner, provided a new hitch pin and missing wheel bolt, plus threw in a couple pieces of left over lumber. (We can always used extra supplies like that.)

We have now regularly been allowed to stage out of numerical order along an entire tree line in the parking lot, making our preps much easier. Some confusion at the Parade staging area led to the tractors being fired up almost 30 minutes before we actually left, which is not unusual actually. When we did leave, further complications among the departure staff led to a large gap ahead of us, which is unusual. The gap usually occurs among our own entry somewhere by mid-parade. At one point along California, while we were trying to catch up, a Picnic Day official asked us to speed up to close the gap and we went as fast and safely as possible. It was all good, and all the drivers did better than ever in keeping tight formation during catch up and during the parade. Also, this year we were happy to find that access to a bathroom had been secured for all the people at the staging area.

Picnic Days 1998 & 1999

2003

2002

2001

2000