Natalie Flores knows how to make an entrance.
Her world debut, at 9 pounds, 8 ounces, came after doctors told her mother she wouldn’t survive.
“I was a miracle baby,” said this year’s Queen of the Doo Dah Parade in Old Town Pasadena. “I arrived with some pizazz.”
A dash of feisty fun is how Flores hopes to kick off the 44th occasional Doo Dah Parade at 11 a.m. Nov. 19, on Raymond Avenue at 85 E. Holly Street. Hailed as the twisted sister of the Rose Parade, “the Doo” started as a grassroots campaign in 1978 to focus on the eccentric and satirical.
This year, it returns to its old route in historic Old Pasadena, and boasts its biggest lineup yet, with more than 90 entries from art cars and mutant vehicles to rockers, performance artists, political pundits, dancing troops and mad inventor floats.
Reigning over them all will be Flores, also known as Queen Mama’s Sunshine, a bow to her mother Minerva, who she hopes will be well enough to ride along the parade with her. Flores’ royal court includes her husband Michael Blackner and their children Iris, 5, and Miles, 1.
“This is a really amazing community,” Flores said. “It’s adding joy and goodness into the world when the news has us in a funk, and reminds us to tune in. There’s a whole life going on outside of the doom and gloom and a lot of it is silly and creative fun.”
The Doo Dah Parade heads south on Raymond Avenue, turns west on Colorado Boulevard, and ends at Pasadena Avenue at 1 p.m.
The Light Bringer Project, the Pasadena arts and education nonprofit, and the Doo Dah Preservation Society, produce the event, including the tryouts that brought Flores the Doo Dah crown. The first Doo Dah “Quing” – a blend of king and queen — Robby Ravenwood of Long Beach, was chosen, too. Clayton Louks is the parade’s “King for Life.”
The Arizona-born Flores will be giving out seed packets on parade day, the better to highlight her own nonprofit Nourish L.A., which feeds…
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