Tuesday, July 6, 2010, Calgary, AB – The big day is drawing near, and final touches are going onto the SAIT Polytechnic float which will take to the downtown streets at the Stampede Parade this Friday, July 9.

Don Mason of the School of Transportation is the official float operator. He is the obvious person for the job since he’s already driven in 10 parades and designed and built six floats.

Mason says the most taxing aspect of operating a float is negotiating a vehicle with such limited visibility.

“You can’t see to the right or the left too well, but you can see straight ahead,” he says. “There will be 25 walkers on both sides and they’ll be within earshot if I need some direction.”

Parades generally travel at a walking speed of about 5 km/hr. Mason says the float could potentially go much faster as it is built on a very stripped down Ford F-150 pickup truck.

“Everything that would make it look like a pickup has been cut away,” he says. “It’s down to the bare frame, the engine and the operator’s station.”

The SAIT float was constructed and designed at Heavy Industries. Mason says he’s impressed by the high quality of work Heavy Industries puts out.

“If you can imagine it they can build it,” says Mason.

Designer Carly Holt says it was a tough project.

“There were a lot of key words to bring across, so it was tricky to bring them all together into one concise design,” says Holt. “I also needed to incorporate all the different programs SAIT has to offer.”

Despite the challenge, Holt says she had a lot of fun designing the float.

“It was truly something different, and it gave me an opportunity to think outside the box,” she says.

Check out the Stampede Parade website for more information about the parade.

SAIT Polytechnic is one of Canada’s most exciting destinations for post-secondary education, offering more than 100 career programs that position people for success in technology, trades and business. A leader in innovation, SAIT also collaborates with industry on applied research and delivers corporate training worldwide. SAIT is a member of Polytechnics Canada and one of Alberta’s Top 50 Employers for 2011.

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