Group using synthetic ice to take Freedom Festival parade float to the ‘next level’

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Corridor Hockey Association is pulling out all the stops this year in hopes of being honored when the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival parade awards are handed out at 2 p.m. Saturday at NewBo City Market.

'We are building a float that is going to have a working ice arena on it,” explained Heather Adams, director of the association. 'We don't have actual ice, it's using something called synthetic ice.

'It is an 8-by-12-foot rink and it has plexiglass sides so people can see in. We will have a goalie in a Canadian uniform and player in a USA uniform because next year is the Winter Olympics.”

The annual parade, featuring bands, floats, dance groups and a variety of entries from local businesses and organizations, steps off at 10 a.m. Saturday from the corner of Fourth Street SE and Ninth Avenue SE.

The parade route follows Third Street SE to 16th Avenue SE and then across the 16th Avenue Bridge, where it ends in Czech Village.

Organizers say the parade attracts around 20,000 people and officials are anticipating even more this year as the National Weather Service forecast is calling for sunny skies and temperatures reaching 80 degrees.

This is the second year the Corridor Hockey Association is participating in the parade. Last year they built a replica of the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

'We wanted to do something that would push us to the next level. To actually have someone playing hockey in hockey skates on an ice surface on a float just kind of blows your mind,” Adams said. 'I want people to look at this and go, ‘Oh my gosh, are those people actually skating?' because they are.”

Adams said many wondered how the group would pull off their design.

'I grew up in Wheaton, Ill., and on the Fourth of July, that's what everybody did. You went to the parade. The floats were extravagant,” Adams said. 'When I think of a Fourth of July parade, all I remember are the amazing floats and that's what I want it to be for the people of Cedar Rapids.”

Along with the float, the Corridor Hockey Association also will be handing out ice pops, because, Adams said, 'What else does an ice arena give away?”

'The more I worked on it, the more I thought about my motivation for making a float. It seems that the concept of a parade is built into our American Society,” Adams said. 'So why did I want to build it? Because recent parades have gotten away from that. They are politicians and businesses looking for customers.

'And while I don't mind them in parades, I'm more wowed by a business that puts on a show by making a float than I am one that throws some streamers on a car and passes out information.”

Adams describes the float as a combination of what she loves.

'My love for the community, my love for hockey, my love for independence and my love for putting on a great show. It's the total package,” she said.

'We are gonna knock the socks off the people of Cedar Rapids.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8538; elianna.novitch@thegazette.com