Words by Jeff.
Motafrenz put on a spectacular display at an important event with a variety of cars showing how proud Motafrenz members are. We also take pride in our vehicles, but most of all our members who make the club what it is. Melbourne Pride keeps getting bigger and this year was no exception.
Robert did the honour of leading the opening of Pride with the respected Boon Wurrung Elder, Carolyn Briggs in his passionately restored 1926 Crossley. Albeit once the Dikes on Bikes clear the route.
The Motafrenz marchers resplendent in the new Motafrenz shirts did the heavy lifting of the big banner and heaps of flag waving. I didn’t realise how big the big banana is is until I saw it being held up from about 100m away. After our foot soldiers headed down Fitzroy Street, James led the way in his red Celica convertible with the fabulous Jessica Jessica (Rabbit) and their wonderful and eclectic entourage. The rest of us were really quite sedate in comparison but still a hit.
Midsummer’s organising seemed a lot better this year. No dramas with synchronising us with our cars with those on foot with the banner and flags. It was hot but not too hot. It was at 11am for the first time instead of afternoon, which made life easier for everyone involved.
Prior to this day, the briefing for the drivers was a shambles as the echo in the online briefing made it unintelligible. I can tell you that being physically at the briefing, the echo on the public address system at the St Kilda town hall was woeful. So, I suspect what Midsumma did was to appoint us our own chaperone or marshal with a 2-way radio to kept us in check and safe. We had no dramas and somehow one of our cars even had someone not wearing a seatbelt while driving at a solid 1.5 km/h down a public road. We were also surprisingly afforded car parking in Catani Gardens which made it just nice to sit back and relax at the festivities and have a dance and a drink or just sit back with our members and members’ cars and no parking meters. I saw a lot of cute people falling in love with Mat’s Niki and taking pics with themselves posing in front of it. The Niki was quite a hit as were all the others.
And that’s the wrap. Enjoy the pics and the 7 News article for some running commentary showing a few of the cars in the parade
