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Sweet Pea rejects anti-war group's parade float

By WALT WILLIAMS, Chronicle Staff Writer

A local anti-war group won't be allowed to display its float during the Sweet Pea Parade Saturday, so it is planning to set it up outside the Gallatin County Courthouse instead.


 Sweet Pea organizers recently denied a request by the Bozeman Peace Seekers to enter a float bearing the Statue of Liberty with her hand held high in a peace sign.

The same statue was permitted during the Fourth of July parade in Butte, where it won first place among the entries, according to Margarita McLarty of Peace Seekers. Its message: "Peace is patriotic."

"It seemed to be a message that resonated with Butte and the 20,000 people who were watching the parade," she said Thursday.

Bozeman Peace Seekers is the local chapter of the Montana Peace Seekers, an anti-war organization with chapters in Butte, Billings, Missoula and other cities.

Peace Seekers applied to enter the float in the Sweet Pea Parade, saying there had never been a peace float in the parade before. But the event's organizers found the float violated the event's ban on political messages.

"The Sweet Pea Parade is known as being a parade of festivities," Sweet Pea executive director JoAnn Brekhus said.

The ban has been in effect for years, she said. It was drafted along with the other parade rules after considering public comment.

Brekhus declined to elaborate or to comment on this specific float, and repeatedly referred to the rules.

This year isn't the first time questions have been raised about political messages during the parade.

In a letter to the editor in 2002, former Gallatin County Republican party chair Don Hargrove accused Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., then running for re-election, of violating the ban by displaying a sign during the parade.

McLarty said her group was up front about what it wanted to do and made changes to the float to make it more acceptable, including removing a medallion with a dove imprinted on it.

Still, they couldn't do anything about the peace sign because it was a part of the statue's structure.

The Peace Seekers got together Thursday evening to discuss what do about the situation. They decided to instead erect the Statue of Liberty at the courthouse on Main Street so it would stand vigil as the parade marches by.

In a news release, the group said it will refrain from showing any other signs or displays until the parade is past.

Walt Williams is at wwilliams@dailychronicle.com

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