Floral Locomotive Parade Float, American Midwest, 1950s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

Floral Locomotive Parade Float, American Midwest, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

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Floral Locomotive Parade Float, American Midwest, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-B1156D

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Someone spent a very long time wiring yellow and orange chrysanthemums onto a full-scale locomotive form and decided this was the correct use of that time. The float — a steam engine rendered entirely in flowers, complete with a working bell and a trailing passenger car — moves down a main street past a stone-faced church whose congregation has climbed to the roof for a better view, which tells you everything about the civic weight a 1950s parade could still carry.

The locomotive theme was a reliable choice for a mid-century American parade float because railroads still meant progress, and progress still meant something. The builders picked the most authoritative machine they could think of and covered it in flowers, which is one way to express civic optimism and another way to ensure three hundred volunteer hours disappear before the autumn homecoming or harvest festival is over.

The crowd lines every inch of the curb. Two men stand on the church roof. A child breaks from the sidewalk toward the street with the confidence of someone who has not yet been told about safety cordons. The float will be dismantled by Sunday morning and every petal of that carefully placed optimism will be in a dumpster.

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