Obvious shots remain untaken as Beverly Farms Horribles return

Dustin Luca, The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.
·2 min read

Jul. 4—BEVERLY FARMS — Garden City officials might have breathed a collective sigh of relief Monday when an annual test of free speech in parade form didn't take shots that seemed easy and obvious in 2022.

The first official Beverly Farms parade to be held since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic rolled through the section of Beverly just after 8 a.m. Monday, July 4, as it did in times prior.

"It's absolutely great. We couldn't have picked a better day," said Paul Weingartner, standing in the back of a leading vehicle for the 10th time as Uncle Sam. "Two years off is a long, long time, and there's a lot of pent-up demand."

That seemed like a quiet storyline heading into the parade, but Beverly Farms Horribles Parade is known for sometimes running afoul with off-color commentary and rarely pulling punches.

So, surprisingly, participants didn't tap the obvious — Gun violence, Supreme Court rulings, a pandemic that won't give up the ghost.

Instead, they served up monkeypox, high gas prices and Johnny Depp.

Probably the most offensive was a float being ridden by monkeys and adorned by references to monkeypox, along with a sex-related comment. Another float proposed to effectively flush "Amber Turd." That float, styled to the hit movie series "Pirates of the Caribbean," frequently referenced the recent divorce trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

In one instance, an engine from the New Ipswich, New Hampshire, fire department rode with signs reading "I had a HORRIBLE idea ... but ... no one may be OFFENSIVE."

Betty Rubble and Wilma Flintstone — Stephanie Levy and Lisa Rich, rather — rode a make-shift Flintstones vehicle to lead the affair, announcing to parade watchers that electric cars will never be as energy efficient as always-reliable foot powered vehicles.

"We wanted something in the current and didn't want to go with whatever is out there, and felt this is the most decent thing to do," Rich said.

"We're sick of the (gas) prices," added Levy. "So why not get a Flintstone mobile? It's better than electric — you don't have to charge it!"

Greg Bruett and his wife, Nancy, watched the parade from their Hale Street front lawn after decades living in Marblehead and watching the annual parade in that community.

"It was pretty timid today," said Greg Bruett. "The people that run it monitor it so it doesn't get like it used to be."

Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.