Sports - Ski to Sea

POSTED: Friday, May. 22, 2009

Synchronized umbrella team to debut at Ski to Sea Parade

BELLINGHAM - Cheryl Crooks has traded in her kayak paddle for an umbrella for this year's Ski to Sea.

Goodbye, Angst Ridden Mamas, the team for which she normally does the kayak leg. Hello, Synchronized Umbrella Drill Team, which she formed after sending out e-mails to a few hundred of her friends and acquaintances.

"I'm the culprit," the Bellingham resident said.

Catch the high-octane Crooks and the other 54-plus members of the drill team at the Grand Parade on Saturday, May 23, in downtown Bellingham.

You'll find them toward the end of the parade, behind the First Congregational Church and in front of Shayne Simpson's Team Rock Solid.

"Everyone needs to stay or they'll miss the best part," drill team member Roxanne Melland said with a laugh.

Look for the women wearing blue ponchos and big red and white umbrellas bearing their sponsor's name - Whatcom Educational Credit Union.

Inspiration for the team came from the Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena, Calif., which has featured a synchronized briefcase drill team, and watching previous Grand Parades in Bellingham with friends and feeling like they should be in it.

Inspiration for their parade-day gear came from the city's rainy reputation.

"You know what we need because it's Bellingham is umbrellas," Crooks recalled of the ideas being kicked around.

The Synchronized Umbrella Drill Team uniform of choice certainly matches this Grand Parade theme, "Celebrate Northwest Life: Create and Imagine Whatcom County."

The idea to be in the Grand Parade came together this year when the Angst Ridden Mamas didn't. Crooks drafted an e-mail, then hesitated.

"I almost didn't hit the send button," she said.

But Melland had no qualms about joining when she received the e-mail from Crooks, her former neighbor.

"She is an amazing woman. She has endless energy," said Melland, a Blaine resident and longtime Bellingham school teacher.

Nor was Melland bothered by the fact that she had never marched in a parade.

"Most of us have never ever done anything like this," she said. "It is so much fun. I'm going to be sad when it's over."

But first came practice. Some of the women had never learned how to march, much less march in a straight line and in step with cohorts. Some don't know how to dance. And there's both in the routine.

Luckily, others on the team - like Crooks - performed in marching bands in high school and college. And some of the women have dance training.

Combine that with a routine crafted by Gayle Staker, a Bellingham ballroom dancer and choreographer, who's adapting her talents to marching, and plenty of practice, and, well, the drill team might just give parade-goers another act to enjoy.

"If it comes off the way we want it to, it should be funny," Crooks said.