Puff makes debut
Adragon is described as a mythical fierce monster, usually represented as a large reptile with wings and claws and breathing out fire and smoke.
But Abbotsford’s “Puff the Magic Dragon” will be a friendly dragon with bright red eyes that winks at the ladies, wags its long tail, breathes fire and sings as it is flaps its 16 feet of wingspread in excitement during the Abbotsford’s annual Christmas Parade to be held Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m.
The dragon will be the finale of an idea thought up by John Bremer, Abbotsford.
After seeing such masterpieces at the Happy Train and Cinderella Coach, along with all the clowns and storybook characters, Bremer, chairman of the parade clowns, decided that it was about time he got back into the act of dreaming up and helping construct floats.
Because the Christmas parade is for children of the area, Bremer wondered “What would the kids really like to see?” He learned in talking to elementary teachers that small children enjoy monsters and that the bigger and fiercer they are, the more delighted the children are.
As Bremer lay awake nights thinking back to his childhood, he asked himself, “What did I think the monster of monsters?” And the answer always was “a dragon.” So he said to himself, “We’ll construct a 35-foot monster for the 1975 Christmas parade.”
But where and how to start? Last March he began constructing a scale model about two and a half feet long showing the proposal (hinging to make it flexible). He called on Jack LaSee and Tom Streckert, both of Abbotsford, to get their technical assistance.
According to Bremer, one of the most difficult tasks for the men was to have to make a pattern of the dragon end up looking like a dragon rather than one resembling a dinosaur.
At this point, the men enlisted the aid of an Abbotsford woman, Elsie Bremer, who is an artist, to make an enlarged drawing from a one-inch square picture found on the sheet music “Puff the Magic Dragon” to use as a model.
Bremer said they then pursued designing a second two and a half foot scale model showing all the proportions. A third scale was also developed and then a five-foot long model combining the flexibility of the first pattern and the design of the second model.
At this time Walter Hopperdietzel, Abbotsford, joined the group. Bremer and Hopperdietzel had never worked with metal, and at first he was confused by all the contours, curves and angles needed to build a dragon, but soon caught on and was in there building and helping.
Puff’s framework was built at All Metal Stamping in Abbotsford. It has now been moved to the Triple R Western Shop’s garage for the final touches.
While a group of volunteers under the chairmanship of Dolly LaSee and Marie Deming are busy sewing on the skin and scales, the men are constructing the wings and legs.
The head is being made out of paipermache by Miss Bremer and is over six feet long from the top of its horns to the tip of its nose.
The dragon weighs over 400 pounds and was erected with over 850 feet of conduit, welding rods and four bicycle wheels. It is 45 feet long and over nine feet high. Its skin is made of chicken wire, papier-mache, window screen and yards and yards of nylon.
Between 50 to 75 people will have donated hundreds of hours to weld and bend conduit and sew the skin for the creation of Abbotsford’s first friendly dragon so it can make its debut at the parade on Dec. 3.
Reprinted from the Nov. 12, 1975, edition of the Tribune-Phonograph.
