When Glenn Terry started a satirical parade called the King Mango Strut in 1982, life was more simple. He plopped down two cardboard boxes at the end of a street with signs that read, "Closed for Parade." And people in Coconut Grove marched.
Things have changed. For the first year ever -- as part of a protest -- Terry won't participate in the festivities, which are set for December 27. The reason: The city chose another person, a woman named Antoinette Baldwin, over him to produce the event. Now, he says, it has become too corporate and has lost its character. "Our weird parade has gotten too weird for me," he says. "I prefer a simple, low-budget, small-town parade... I'm going to sit this one out."
The strut is a place where Grovites poke fun at pop culture and politics by, say, sporting a Sarah Palin mask or (we're guessing this year) a Tiger Woods ensemble. The founder's motto is: "Putting the nut back in Coconut Grove." The 2009 grand marshal will be "Jimbo" of Jimbo's Place on Virginia Key. It promises to be a blast as always, but with a little something -- or someone -- missing.
