Missing the Boat

For at least two decades it has been standard practice for the Common Council to ride on the replica of The Hudson in the Flag Day Parade. Here's the Council aboard ship in 2009, the year of Quadricentennial of Henry Hudson's exploration of the river in 1609. (Note the Henry Hudson era ruffs worn by some of the councilmembers.)

The plan this year was to cede the replica ship to the Hudson High School Boys Varsity Basketball Team, to celebrate them for making it to the Class A state semifinals this spring, but, alas, when The Hudson was pulled out of storage, it was discovered the foundation of the float, an old farm wagon, had some serious structural issues. As Gossips reported on Monday, The Hudson will be out of service for this year's parade season.

With no conveyances for the team or the Common Council and less than a week to go before the big parade, Councilmember Henry Haddad (First Ward) took on the task. If The Hudson could not appear in the parade, at least the whale that originally towed the replica ship could be part of the parade. But when the whale was pulled out of storage, it was discovered that it too had been the victim of vandals and time. The whale was covered in pigeon droppings, half its teeth were missing, one eye had been gouged out, and the pump that makes the whale to spout water was broken. 

Undeterred, Haddad cleaned up the whale and recruited artist Sarah Bernie to re-create the missing eye. The pictures below show the whale last night, after it had been cleaned up and festooned with bunting, and this morning, when Bernie was working on restoring the missing eye.

After a plan to borrow Germantown's Haunted Hayride wagon fell through (there was no way to get it here from Germantown because the wagon is not road legal), Haddad commandeered his father's flatbed trailer and asked the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society if they would pull their pontoon boat out of the water to be part of the parade. HALPS was happy to oblige. 

Haddad fitted up the flatbed trailer with picnic tables and a beach umbrella, and he and Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) decorated it with red, white, and blue trim and pinwheels. The flatbed trailer will carry the Common Council.

The basketball team provided their own decorations for the pontoon boat which will carry them in the parade.

The parade steps off in just a few minutes. Look for the whale and the Common Council and the Hudson High School Boys Varsity Basketball Team. And if you see Councilmember Haddad, thank him for his efforts.

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK

UPDATE: Here are the "floats" in the parade. (The whale eluded Gossips' volunteer photographer.)

Gratitude to Peter Jung for the parade pictures.

And here's the whale!