Sun City Golf Cart Parade Fast Approaching

Some people are competitive on the golf course, some in their golf carts.

Huntley residents will see a little bit of both when the 11th annual Golf Cart Parade takes places Sunday, June 26, at Prairie Lodge in Del Webb’s Sun City. The parade will be preceded by an outdoor concert by the Sun City Band at 11 a.m., with the parade itself scheduled to step off at 12:30 p.m. Also, the Huntley police and fire departments will escort the parade, with some participants tossing candy to the kids on the right side of the street only.

Now if all that sounds like a traditional parade, you’re right. But make no mistake: Sun City’s annual Golf Cart Parade is highly creative and downright competitive. How competitive? Well, taking photos of participating carts prior to the parade is discouraged, if not impossible.

“Anybody who is making anything or doing anything will not show you because they want to be original. They don’t want anyone to know what they’re doing in the garage,” said Joanie Berg, who, with her husband, Carter; Sun City Activities Director Cynthia O’Connor and O’Connor’s assistant Jane Tennant, have organized the parade from Year One.

Considering all the pre-parade secrecy, one has to wonder if Sun City residents have been slow to register, or is there a little bit of “deking” (a hockey term for “faking out” another) going on?

“Every parade has been a lot of fun, but this year it just seems like people are (registering) slower than they did before,” Berg said. “I didn’t even know if we were going to have one this year because nobody was really coming up to the plate and signing up.”

Prompting all the covert operations are three trophies of equal significance with each trophy awarded to participants responsible for the “most unique” entries. In the event an entire Sun City group or neighborhood enters golf carts under a single theme – as one neighborhood did previously with an “Alice in Wonderland” entry – the neighborhood is eligible for just one trophy and not all three.

Now if you still don’t believe the golf cart parade is a serious competition, just ask Berg who the judges are.

“You’ll never know,” she says, coyly. “We change them all the time so nobody will ever know who they are.”

Even so, Berg did reveal two bits of information about the judges. First, they’ll start evaluating golf carts soon after the 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. check-in, with the three trophies scheduled to be awarded at 12:15 p.m. Second, the judges all reside in Sun City, thus another reason to keeps their identities under wraps.

“It doesn’t cause any friction this way,” said Berg, who has employed secret judges since the parade originated.

On the other hand, among the worst-kept secrets is that Berg would like to see more than the customary 40 to 50 golf carts in the parade.

“I see so many people at the concert sitting in their golf carts, so many people sitting in their golf carts along the parade route,” Berg said, “And I’ll say, ‘Come on. Get in, get in,’ but they’re too bashful.”

Berg emphasizes that golf carts do not need to be decorated to be part of the parade, which typically lasts 90 minutes.

“Who cares if you decorate (your cart) or not. This is for the fun of it.”

Still, some Sun City residents have really gotten into the spirit of the event.

“We’ve had pirate ships. We’ve had Viking ships. We’ve had things from space. We’ve had people in make-believe bathtubs with bubbles made out of balloons. It’s been crazy. We just love it,” she said.

“There’s one fella who always enters a Green Bay Packer cart, just to aggravate you know. Then, of course, you’re going to get a White Sox cart and a Cubs cart, and sometimes it’s a competition so that’s fun. But that’s what we need – laugh at each other or you might as well forget it.”

One thing that some parade watchers may not forget or overlook is the Packers cart. Last year, Green Bay eliminated a top-rated Chicago Bears team in the playoffs, then went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. So what kind of reception can the Packers cart – decked out with a Vince Lombardi Trophy somewhere we’re guessing – expect this year?

“We love the Green Bay Packers ourselves so I better not say,” Berg laughed.

Citizens Bank is sponsoring the parade.