A man walks purposefully down Woodside Road holding a pair of stilts, trailed by a boy wearing a short sparkly cape and a plush royal crown. Any other day of the year, this would warrant a second glance, but this is Woodside, just before 10 a.m. on the first Saturday in May. As the 84th May Day parade is about to start, it’s the kids who aren’t in costume who stick out incongruously.
Dancing toddlers, sleeping babies in strollers, dozing dogs and adults in lawn chairs line the parade route, which stretches from Woodside Elementary School to Roberts market. Parents chat with each other while keeping one eye out for their kids. Gaggles of preteens conduct a parade of their own along the sidelines, alternating studied indifference with noisy greetings punctuated by squeals and hugs.
At no time does Woodside seem more like a small town than May Day, when it seems as though every single resident is gathered at the parade.
This year’s parade had a birthday party theme, in honor of the town of Woodside’s 50th anniversary of incorporation. As usual, the costumes inspired by the theme ranged from strict interpretations — party hats and balloons — to the looser adaptations displayed by the kindergartners, who counted a butterfly, knight and firefighter among their ranks.
The Town Council, for the first time in recent memory, entered a float in the parade. Council members Dave Tanner, Ron Romines, Carroll Ann Hodges, Paul Goeld and Mayor Deborah Gordon accompanied the float in the back of a vintage pick-up piloted by Town Clerk Janet Koelsch.
If there was a birthday theme to the San Francisco Giants caps and jerseys sported by the Redwood City Twirlers, it was too abstract for this reporter to discern.
Woodside’s equestrians were well represented. The Mounted Patrol’s horsemen were near the head of the parade, riders from the San Mateo County Horsemen’s Association were resplendent in sparkly blue shirts, a contingent from the Folger Stable project rode in matching T-shirts, a patriotic Rebekah Witter touted the Day of the Horse, there was a hammy “Run for the roses” salute to the Kentucky Derby, and the Bay Area Savvy Players sat atop flower-bedecked mounts.
Anne Schoebel and Ray Romano-sound-alike Chris Johnson provided cheeky parade commentary, vamping during the lulls and teasing the entrants.
“A round of applause — they’re still alive!” said Ms. Schoebel of the marching alumni from Woodside Elementary’s class of 1964. She even sang a musical accompaniment for the third-graders’ can-can routine plugging the Woodside School Foundation’s Moulin Rouge-themed auction.
Tradition reigned supreme at the 84-year-old May Day parade. The eighth-graders, dressed in their “Hello, Dolly” finery, promoted their upcoming musical, the Los Trancos Woods Marching Band gave its signature off-key rendition of “Yes, we have no bananas,” and Jac’ Audiffred, who has never missed a May Day parade, rode in a vintage fire truck with the kindergarten royal court.
