For 16-year old Garland Power and Light veteran, the Jacksonville, FL, Gator Bowl parade started the whole idea.
"Two years ago when I was in Jacksonville visiting family," Flournoy, GP&L distribution, explained, "I was watching the Gator Bowl parade and saw the City of Jacksonville electric utility had entered a bucket truck."
Joining Flournoy on the "GP&L Parade Float" were Chuck Garrett Jr., Jose Guzman and Chris Farrington, electric lineman who displayed the overhead portion of the utility's function.
"This year," Flournoy continued, "we added underground equipment, which consisted of a dump truck with flatbed trailer and two Kabota excavators." Riding the dump truck were Roger Brooks, Cory Case and Greg Crone. All of the GP&L personnel had volunteered to work on the "float" in their off-duty time and during the parade.
"We had received permission from Kenneth Kimbrell, line superintendent," Flournoy said, "and everyone pitched in with ideas to brighten our 'float' with flags flying, bunting around the truck and trailer as well as other colorful materials."
Flournoy, a senior line technician, smiled and declared proudly, "It was really a good looking setup. We were all very pleased to have GP&L featured in the parade."
Flournoy shook his head and added, "I thought, now that's a great idea. Maybe we should do something like that for GP&L. It would be a good way to give our customer-owners an idea of what we do." That's how GP&L entered the July 4th Parade with its bucket truck. The 12-foot tall pole at the back of the truck was mounted by two men complete with safety equipment - rubber gloves, hard hats, long sleeve shirts.
