Tractors, musicians, acrobats and more at this year’s Cherry Blossom Parade

Dr. Edward Clark is a pediatrician in Macon, but folks might know him for his vintage tractors. 

Clark and his family participated in their first Macon Cherry Blossom Parade in 1999 and since then, riding tractors and playing jazz has become a family tradition.

Just a few years prior, Clark’s family restored a 1949 Farmall tractor dubbed “Ole Huldy” by Clark’s grandfather. The tractor came from the Virginia dairy farm on which Clark’s father, the late Rev. Frank Clark Jr., grew up.

The family has restored several vintage tractors since then and will drive five in this year’s parade.

“Ole Huldy” pulls a bright red bandwagon — once the bed of a pickup truck that the Clark family converted for parades.

“We grew up cutting grass for the Macon Housing Authority,” Clark said of the vintage International pickup truck that they used back then. “We were called the grass men.”

The first year, Clark played in the parade with other medical professionals in a band called “Alternative Medicine.”

Now he plays the saxophone for the Jazz Association of Macon (JAM). 

The JAM ensemble will perform songs by Ray Charles and classics such as “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Fly Me to the Moon.”

All the musicians will wear pink wigs and ride the bandwagon pulled by “Ole Huldy.”

Although riding tractors in the Cherry Blossom Parade is a beloved family tradition, the Clark family took a break from participating annually until recently because of some deaths in the family, Clark said.

Thomas Ireson, whose father is Clark’s first cousin, reignited the tradition. 

“I couldn’t do it without Thomas,” Clark said. “He basically said, ‘We need to bring the parades back for the younger generation.’”

Ireson — a PC tech for Bibb County Schools —  keeps the family’s collection of vintage tractors in good shape year round. 

The tractors need to be run once a month, he said, and he’s even driven one to Dairy Queen.  

This March, four generations of the Clark family will participate in the parade.

“I get to do it with my family,” Ireson said. “And it’s something that we get to keep alive.”

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Youth students from Catapult Movement, an acrobatic and aerial arts studio, will show off their moves during this year’s parade. 

“I just like seeing the kids have fun,” said Jessica Thompson, the studio’s lead acrobatic instructor. “The kids really, really enjoy performing, and I’ve never had a parade where the kids were shy.”

The studio opened in 2019 and has been  part of the parade in previous years.

Roughly 25 students from as young as 4 years old to 13 will participate.

“They’re always just ready to get out there and show what they can do,” Thompson said. “And then they always get an energy boost from the crowd.”

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Festival chair Kenna Scragg will lead this year’s parade as the official grand marshal. Scragg is the president of ICB Construction Group. 

Over the years, several famous faces and icons have served as the parade’s grand marshall. 

Here’s some of the highlights:

• 1985: Macon native and Dynasty actress Cassie Yates
• 1988: Jeff MacGregor,  host of the The All-New Dating Game”
• 1989: Lord Gordon Parry of Pembrokeshire, Wales
• 1993: Mickey Mouse
• 1994: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter 
• 2002: New York City firefighter Lieutenant Richarad Saracelli who aided during the September 11 attacks. 
• 2006: Macon natives Nancy Grace of CNN and Jeanetta Jones of the Weather Channel
• 2011: NFL player, Kareem Jackson, of the Houston Texans who also played on a Macon high school football team.
• 2012: Barbara Eden, lead actress of the TV classic, “ I Dream of Jeannie.”