Bum Mobile
The parade is ended by the Grand Pooba riding through on the historic Bum Mobile. For seven decades, the Bummobile has led the Hobo Day Parade past the Campanile along Medary Avenue. Otherwise, with the exception of a select number of summer parades, the 1912 Ford Model T remains displayed in a large glass encasing in the Hobo Day Gallery, a Hobo Day showcase room in the SDSU University Student Union, built in 2010. The year of the Bummobile (1912) is significant because it marks the celebration of the first Hobo Day. The Bummobile has been the lead entry in every Hobo Day parade since 1938, with the exception of 1942, when Hobo Day and classes were cancelled so students could help with the World War II effort. The Bummobile was donated in 1938 by Frank Weigel, a farmer from Flandreau, S.D. The Model T has shepherded homecoming grand poobas, parade grand marshals and even a U.S. president.
Former Grand Pooba Sara French said a series of problems has arisen in recent years. The Bummobile has started on fire; a tire has fallen off and the brakes have given out. The car had to be pushed through the parade route in 2006. That has prompted French and the Hobo Day Committee to launch an effort to repair and restore the Bummobile.
Read more about this topic: Hobo Day
Famous quotes containing the words bum and/or mobile:
“I have need of night people.
I have need to see the bum dozing
off on scag, the women in labor
pushing forth a pink head,
lord I need to fly I am sick of
rocks and sea water....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“From three to six months, most babies have settled down enough to be fun but aren’t mobile enough to be getting into trouble. This is the time to pay some attention to your relationship again. Otherwise, you may spend the entire postpartum year thinking you married the wrong person and overlooking the obvious—that parenthood can create rough spots even in the smoothest marriage.”
—Anne Cassidy (20th century)