CLUBHOUSE odds, ends fun stuff Pulling strings more fun than watching the annual Thanksgiving Day parade on television? Actually walking in the parade as giant balloon handlers! what the Kiwanis Club of Sparta, New Jersey, found out when members volunteered to steer the enormous floats through the streets of New York City. On the big day, Kiwanians receive costumes, directions and a bus ride to Central Park. This past year, 11 club members handled geodesic-shaped balloons and two members were assigned to a Spider-Man balloon. were behind Miss America and right in front of club President Mike Zingaro recalls. The balloon-bearing Kiwanians were interviewed for a statewide television news broadcast, and they made the local newspaper. ?Tamara Stevens Thirteen-year-old Andrew Santos, a member of a theater cast, tickles the ivories on a Kiwanis piano outside the Porter County Courthouse. In the key of PR An open piano on a public sidewalk with bold-print instructions to is an irresistible invitation. what the Kiwanis Club of Valparaiso Noon, Indiana, hoped when it placed five pianos around their square. The resulting publicity was music to ears?and great fun for the community. The two-week project, dubbed attracted the media and brought out virtuose, impromptu ensembles, duos, the cast of a local play (in costume) and a crowd of pedestrian pianists. people looked at them for a says club member Aaron Ingram. then most tried to remember at least one song from a childhood piano ?Amy Wiser N.Y. DAILY NEWS Spider-Man usually swings with the greatest of ease above New York streets, but this past November, the superhero relied on New Jersey Kiwanians to pull a few strings and guide him along the route of the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. problems are solvable?if you but listen to the philosophy of unselfish men and follow their ?Donald A. Johnston, first president of the Detroit Kiwanis Club No. 44 Kiwanis OCTOBER 2010 REPRINTED COURTESY OF THE TIMES OF NORTHWEST INDIANA