Flood couldn’t sink Cedar Rapids man’s parade streak

If you've been to any parade in Cedar Rapids in the past quarter-century, chances are one of Leonard Pfeifer's creations has caught your eye.

Today marks the 25th year that Pfeifer, 60, has entered a float in what's now known as the Holiday DeLight Parade in downtown Cedar Rapids. Towering castles, glittering stars and elegant cottages have been featured in past floats - first for the Navajo Night Stalkers, a singing and dancing group made up of Pfeifer's family, and since 1989, the Czech Heritage Foundation.

In the past 18 months, the road to the parade route hasn't been easy, though.

A resident of the Time Check Neighborhood, Pfeifer's home next to the Cedar River was inundated by floodwaters in June 2008. Included in the many possessions he lost were speakers and materials he accumulated over the years to decorate his prize-winning floats.

“I lost everything, so I'm starting from scratch,” Pfeifer said. “I'm trying to pull off some magic here.”

He scrambled to find a flatbed hayrack for last year's parades.

This year's float, featuring silver-winged angels, is dedicated to the hundreds of people who have participated in past floats, including a young girl who was granted a wish to ride on his float. She later died of cancer.

Parade-goers can see the entry as No. 25 in tonight's parade, as well as during the day in Czech Village.

Typically, parade organizers slate his floats for the end of the parade, as a kind of grand finale, but Pfeifer requested the 25th spot this year to mark his silver anniversary.

“I told them I've never asked for anything,” said Pfeifer, who generally stays out of the limelight, preferring to credit people like float-driver Pat Swift.

Pfeifer, a maintenance worker at St. Matthew's School and church, never keeps track of the hours he puts into his efforts.

“If I did, I'd quit,” he said.

In high school, he was offered an arts scholarship, but his parents couldn't afford the remaining college costs, so he didn't attend and is basically self-taught.

“I'm not a Norman Rockwell or a Grant Wood,” he said. “If I had to be structured, it would take the fun out of it.”

His floats are also entered in the St. Joseph's and Houby Days parades in Czech Village, and Freedom Festival and St. Patrick's Day parades downtown.

As president of the Czech Heritage Foundation, Pfeifer also volunteers for Czech Village events.

He transformed Kuncl Mall, 59 16th Ave. SW, into a fantasyland with garlands, trees and oversized candy canes, gumdrops and cupcakes for today's festivities.