Date: September 15, 2009
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director,
Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, cconnelly@pnc.edu
PNC 2009 Popcorn Parade Float Wins the Grand Prize
Westville – Purdue University North Central has for the third year in a row taken the top prize in the Valparaiso Popcorn parade for its float, “Live and Learn, Close to Home . . . a great way to celebrate Valparaiso !” This float features an intricately decorated open book standing seven feet tall and a bookcase of handmade antique-looking popcorn covered books that depict many of the majors offered by PNC.
Scattered around the float are smaller books and handmade items that include a microscope, pencils and a laptop computer and mouse made entirely of corn. On the rear of the float, Orville Redenbacher and Charlie Bowman, local popcorn icons, wave to the crowd in a celebration of their lives and the pride they brought to Valparaiso.
The Purdue North Central signature logo, featuring popcorn kernels covered letters surrounded by cracked corn, replicates the logo of Purdue North Central.
According to Susan Brychell and Leslie Plesac, directors of PNC – Porter County in Valparaiso , 45 volunteers put in more than 1,200 hours working on the float.
“This float is a whimsical look at the degrees offered at PNC. Our float uses every part of the corn plant including popped corn, kernels, cracked corn, seeds, roots, leaves, stalks, silks and tassels,” they said.
"We give our special thanks to Cathy and Bill Brown for their expertise and support,” said Brychell and Plesac.
They thanked Pratt Industries for donating the cardboard used to construct much of this float and Mark Forszt for donating the space used to construct the float.
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