Overview
By joining the Green Hat you will:
- Be in the parade! Green Hats walk the parade route alongside the other ensembles in lavishly decorated costumes of their own design!
- See the whole parade! The Green Hats move slowly, having fun playing with the celebratory audience of thousands as the other ensembles pass by.
- Be a key support staffer of the FAC! You can take credit for ensuring we can continue to have parades year after year!
Fundraiser and parade ensemble.
The parade costs an astounding sum of money and the FAC raises much of this money by passing the "Green Hat" during the parade. This is an essential fundraiser for the FAC.
The Green Hat ensemble is a group of 30 or more magically costumed volunteers who push the Green Hat down the street and carry small Green Hats on crazy long poles, collecting donations from the massive assembled crowd. The Green Hat float leads the way and sets the pace. This is also where participants empty their funds.
As a parade ensemble, the Green Hat is part of the show. A theme, costumes and entertainment value are essential. The Green Hat has to manage all the same logistics of any other parade ensemble, and more. The Green Hat is the only official ensemble of the Fremont Arts Council. As such we provide leadership and a good example to the audience and other participants of “how it’s done”.
Job Description for Green Hat Leadership Team
Theme: Put forward a compelling and cohesive theme for the Green Hat ensemble that can unite and inspire the team theatrics and communicate visually to the crowd that all participants are on the same team. Past themes include: Charlie Chaplin, Dr. Seuss., Super Heroes, Aliens, Wild Animals, Anything Goes.
Recruit: Recruit a team of at least 30 Green Hat participants. The FAC can provide support with recruiting this team. However, as team leader it is helpful if you can bring on a core group of people you know that can work well together as a team. It is also extremely beneficial if at least half the team have parade experience, so the understand the basic idea around how to be in the parade. A good way to recruit is to bring on board a few magnetic people that can bring along their friends. This is much more fun to do with your friends as a team.
Inspire: Provide ideas, inspiration and artistic direction to the team. Remember that the Green Hat is an important part of the show! Think of the clowns or the lively MCs that fill in between the main acts.
Enthusiasm. Green Hat participants provide good natured encouragement; are energetic, vocal, dynamic and understand how to play the crowd. Extroverts are ideal for the Green Hat team. Team up your extroverts with others who are less vocal. Those folks can follow right behind and collect funds from audience who are slow to take out their wallets. Suggest lines for the team. Here are some ideas:
- Thank you: “Thank you for your support”; “Thank you for your generosity”; “Thank you for making the parade possible”.
- Auctioneer: Do I see a 1? How about a 5? There’s a 10 over there. How about a 20?
- We do this for you: Keep the parade coming back. This is a key fundraiser for the parade. Your donations keep us coming back. Your donations keep us alive.
Costume Elements: Costumes should be as elaborate, creative and green as possible. Communicate to ensemble participants about costume elements that support the theme of the ensemble. Provide inspiration and ideas about how to costume for the ensemble. Collect and create green costume elements for participants that want to participate but need costuming help. Provide ideas to jazz up costumes with money, wild hats, wings, pointy ears, hats, wigs, scarves, wings, sparkly stuff or other totally original elements. Provide extra costumes for last minute drop-ins, or for people that arrive on parade day that need a little extra costume pizazz.
Kit: Assure the Ensemble “Kit” is refreshed, functional and ready on Parade Day:
- Green Hat “Float”: Make sure that this is still functional and looks good after a year in storage. Make any repairs or refurbish as needed.
- Bag: Confirm that the big bag that goes inside to hold the money is intact. Make repairs or a new bag if needed. The bag must be strong enough to hold upwards of 100 pounds.
- Hat poles: Inventory the green hat poles to make sure there are enough for all participants. Build new hat poles if needed.
- Plan for participants to carry what they need. Will you have a way for participants to carry water or a change of clothing? If not, be sure that you let folks know that they need to have their own plans around that.
Security: Coordinate with the FAC Treasurer on the plan for security of the funds during and at the end of the Parade. The FAC Treasurer is responsible for collecting the Green Hat funds at the end of the parade. The Green Hat leadership is responsible for communicating with the Treasurer on this plan ahead of parade day; and staying with the Green Hat float until the funds are safely collected.
Coordinate and Communicate: Keep track of and communicate regularly with all members of the Green Hat team so that each participant understands and supports the plan. This includes:
- Communicating the plan to all team members before the event;
- Check in with and provide support to team members to make sure they understand what is expected, have a costume and will show up ready to go.
- Review and communicate to all team members the “ensemble logistics” on our webpage
- Enlisting the support of team members to produce all the elements of the ensemble;
Staging Area leadership: Provide leadership and inspiration to the team as they assemble at the staging area before the parade; review the plan with the group and make sure everyone understands the expectations around pacing and audience interaction. answer any last minute questions; This may be the only time the whole group is assembled as a team; this is your opportunity to make sure your team is cohesive before they go out “on stage”.
Pacing: Carefully manage the pacing of the ensemble:
- for maximum fundraising potential;
- to make sure the audience recognizes who you are and thus more likely to put money in the hats;
- to communicate with and minimize interference with the ensembles that you allow to pass you by;
- to help minimize large gaps that can occur between ensembles; and
- to not block the audience view for more than a couple minutes in any one spot.
This can be achieved by careful instruction to a few participants that will push the Green Hat float.
Green Hat Float in the Front: It is also important that participants remember that the Green Hat Float is always in front, leading the group, and most or all but one or two participants stay behind the Green Hat. Be sure that participants understand and remember to stay behind the Green Hat Float. And, the Green Hat Float pushers have a key role in managing the pacing of the ensemble. The Green Hat should also stay in the middle of the road so that it is visible from both sides. (Except that it will need to stand to the side when letting the ensemble behind pass).
Fall Back Plan: The Green Hat starts very near the front of the parade and slowly drops back to let other ensembles pass, and then fills the space in between the next ensemble. The team is a little pokey, since there is cash to collect along the way. You get to watch the ensembles do their thing and play with them as they move through. The pacing is carefully managed so that over the course of the parade, you let all (30 or whatever is the count this year) ensembles pass by. By the end of the parade route, the Green Hat is nearly the last ensemble in the parade. (Never the first or the last ensemble, please). . You will also want someone that stays near the back of the team to “play sweep” which involves communicating with the ensembles that come up behind you to let them know you are going to be in the gap for a while, until you move back again. Be mindful of your impact on the theatrics of the ensembles that are passing you. Stand to the side as you let them pass; then fill the gap before the next ensemble; communicating to them about what you are doing.
Team Work: The folks working the hat poles need to be a team and work both sides of the street. Put your most dynamic extroverts in front to work the crowd. Others can follow behind to sweep up. Team up the extroverts to work in pairs with those less so.
