I happily encourage other Spay/Neuter Education Organizations to have BIG FUN with this idea!
Scroll down for detailed info on how YOU can make your own Star Wars Star Trek float!!

When I found out that the theme for the 2008 Livingston RoundUp was Star Wars - Star Trek -
like all geeks, I rejoiced! Two weeks later, this was the result:

Livingston RoundUp Parade, July 2nd, 2008:

A Big Giant Thank-You goes to Erin Roberg and Equinox Theatre, who lent us lots of Star Wars-y costumes!

A BIG thank-you goes to the amazingly talented artist Regie Saxerud, who helped with the many signs, and who also created our United Federation of Planets flag! She drew it free-hand!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuXB04OES1M

Special thanks to Lynn Weaver, curator of Arts Montana, who created that awesome movie!!

If you don't know why Spay / Neuter programs are important, you need to Watch This
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYBz2gjlEfA

Sweet Pea Parade, August 2nd, 2008 in Bozeman Montana:

Love, your friendly neighboorhood beadmaker!

I happily invite all Spay Neuter organizations to take this idea and run with it!!
You will have a great time! Here is how we did it:

First banner:
Every Year, 6 million Healthy, Adoptable, Earthling Companions in the American sector
are Vaporized for ONE REASON:

Second banner:
THERE AREN'T ENOUGH HOMES FOR THEM ALL

Third banner: (held by Vulcans, of course!)
Adopt from your Local Shelter and Fix Your Pets.
It’s the only LOGICAL solution!

On both sides of the float:
May the Montana Spay Neuter Task Force be with You!

On the float we had Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise, overlooking
Boba Vet and Darth Spayder. We had a giant stuffed dog and a giant stuffed cat (lion), both wearing E collars.

6 kids carried baskets full of individually-wrapped Life Savers to offer to the spectators. The baskets had signs that said "Be A Life Saver - Get your Pets Fixed!"
I laminated the signs and wired them onto the baskets, so they will last for a few parades:

Don't throw the candy - let people help themselves and make sure they see those signs!

28 volunteers dressed up and carried various signs:

The Star Trek Signs:

“Boldly Go Get your Pets Fixed”
"Don’t Want Trouble?  Fix Your Tribbles!"
"Fixed Pets Live Longer and Prosper"
"Neutered Borg are Less Likely to  Bite"
"Klingons Castrate with Honor!"
"Nothing’s more annoying than a Vulcan in HEAT!"
"Is YOUR Ferengi Fully Functional?"
For McCoy:
front: "Dammit Spock, I’m a Doctor, not a Veterinarian!"
back: "He’s not dead, Jim.  He’ll be fine when the anesthesia wears off."
(vet carries) "Beam me up Scotties.  I’ll Fix em! "
"The United Federation of Planets thanks  the MSNTF  Volunteers."
"Intelligent Life Forms Fix their Pets"
"Set Coordinates For (list your local vets) WARP SPEED AHEAD!!"
"YOU have the POWER to STOP planetary Pet Overpopulation!"

The Star Wars Signs:

"Neutered Jawas are Cuter Jawas"
"Bantha Breeders are Bottom Feeders"
"Luke, I’m NOT your Father.  I’m Fixed!"
"Sterilized StormTroopers make Safer Sidekicks"
"Altered Androids are 80% less likely to be hit by a Landspeeder"
"The Imperial Senate Salutes MSNTF"
"Real Jedi Spay and Neuter their pets"
"Fix me, Obi Wan Duane Colmey.  You’re my only Hope!"
"Task Force VETS are OUT OF THIS WORLD!"
(vet carries) "May the Forceps be With You"
(vet carries) "Jedi Master Gonad Blaster"
"Proud Member of the Veterinarian Nations"

Vet Signs:

On back of the float:
Don’t underestimate the Power of the Dark Side.  
Fixed Pets Save Lives!

Last banner:
front:
StarFleet thanks MSNTF for improving the Lives of over 41,000 Animals in this Quadrant.
back: 
We are an ALL Volunteer-Run Organization. 100% of your Donation goes to Fix Pets in Montana!
www.mtspayneutertaskforce.org

How to make the signs:

First, we printed out the signs in a 2.5 x 1 . 5 inch box, using the Renfrew font.
Then I used a Kid's Tracer
(a REAL overheard projector would have been WAY better, but this worked!) to project the signs on the wall and traced lightly with a pencil onto pieces of 1/4 inch foam board, 20 inches by 36 inches long.
Then I went over the pencil with a Sharpie, and then filled it in with Jumbo Pilot Super Color Markers:

For handles for the signs, we used a hot glue gun to attach wooden 5-gallon paint-stir-sticks from the True Value paint department. When the sticks were attached to the signs, we used a staple gun for extra stability, because the wind in Livingston is really strong!

With so many signs and no idea how many volunteers would show up, I taped 2 signs back - to - back with white duct tape.

The amazing vinyl banners were made by Avery and Susan, from Paradise ArtWorks!
Thanks guys, you did an AMAZING JOB with only 10 days notice!!!

How to make the float:

Guess what! I'm a fat middle-aged geek, never been in a parade before, and I made the float all by myself!
This is proof that any person in the world can make a float! It only took me 3 days...

First, find somebody with a trailer and a truck. Your Chamber of Commerce might know a business that would want to pull your float.
We had a wonderful guy, Butch Keyes, of Crazy Mountain Construction who let us use his 7 x 18 feet, a "Low-Body" - and he pulled us in the parade! Butch dropped off his trailer in our driveway, so we could work on it at home. I guess most floats are kept in a warehouse or garage for safety, but we didn't have that.

To make the float, first I just stacked up 2 old pallets on the front of the trailer, then 2 more on top of those, and then put on a piece of plywood that Parke had! You can borrow pallets from almost any hardware or grocery store.

Attention Ladies! You will need an electric drill with a socket thingy - and use these things -
they are self-drilling hex screws, and they are MUCH easier than regular screws because you can't strip them!
and they are self-drilling so it makes it WAY easier!

Once the platform was made, I painted it red, and put on Tom and Sherry's old van chairs. I attached them by screwing down little scraps of wood along the edges.

We also borrowed Tom's vintage Eames Chair for Captain Kirk, and I held it down with these thingys (protect the chair legs with little pieces of cloth first):
These are called 2 hole EMT straps and they are at any hardware store.

You can use EMT straps to hold down the chairs, and also to hold up the flags!
Just take a piece of PVC pipe, about 1.5 feet long, and use the EMT strap to connect it to the back of the float, and then drop the flag pole in there!

To carry your banners, go in the basement and find those tent poles that you haven't used in 12 years. Make the tent poles sturdy with PVC pipe and duct tape! Then you can connect your banner with these guys:
These are called cable ties and they are AMAZING!

You can also use cable ties to connect chairs that have skinny legs to your float: just screw these eye screws into the floor of the trailer:
and then wrap the cable tie through the eye and around the chair leg!

Back to the banner rods. If your tent poles are grawldy, cover the ends with foam bike handlebar grips!

Now, for the console of the Enterprise, I just took a funky plant stand table, and put a skinny old cupboard that used to be in our laundry room, and laid it on top of the plant stand. (You will have to cut off about 4 inches of one side of the cupboard to make it lay at an angle. Oh yeah, you won't be using that cupboard for anything else again...) Then I had to trace the sides of the console on a piece of cardboard, and use the template to cut little trapezoids of plywood to cover the sides - then screw them on and paint some more!
(I cut the plywood with a circular saw. I never used one before. Wear glasses and be careful and you won't cut yourself!)

Next, I took 4 spacey dinette chairs from our basement, and attached them with the eye screws and cable ties.

Behind the dinette set, I lay down a 7 x 5 piece of carpet, and then used a couple of EMT straps to hold down the throne - a thrift shop special that I wrapped with dozens of silk flowers.....

In front of the throne we had another thrift shop find - a lovely padded bench for the children and stuffed animals, who celebrated the theme of our float by wearing E Collars on loan from Colmey Veterinary!

Costumes: Go to the Thrift Shops!! and eBay!! fun fun fun!! We were lucky to have a local theatre group loan us many outfits. I say it again: A Big Giant Thank-You goes to Erin Roberg and Equinox Theatre, who lent us lots of Star Wars-y costumes! (The Star Trek stuff I mostly found on eBay!)

A BIG thank-you goes to the amazingly talented artist Regie Saxerud, who helped with the many signs, and who also created our United Federation of Planets flag! She drew it free-hand!! Does that blow your mind? Mine too!

Our float was the crowd favorite - and more than anything we hope someone was inspired to call their local vet and make an appointment for snippage!

Things to have in the truck during the parade:
- extra Life Savers (we had 1000, but still ran out in the second block!!) seriously, next time I'll get #4000. Have your local grocer order them for you. If they can't, you can find them on Amazon. Seriously!
- a cooler with ice water for the marchers
- duct tape!!
- scissors
- safety pins for costume emergencies
- MUSIC!! unfortunately, our DC invertor blew out, so our great music was heard by no one....
- extra costumes for people who decide to join in!
- sunscreen!!! and a first aid kit.

No Go Have Fun and Let's save some Dogs and Cats this Year!!!