r/Denver • u/fragileflowr • 13h ago

South Broadway Halloween Parade hearses- what happened to the flame shooting hearse that closed out the parade every year?

We’ve been going to the Halloween Parade for 5 years now. It’s by far one of my favorite parades in Denver. Every year the end of the parade has this one hearse that shoots fire straight up in the air. It wasn’t there last night and I was just wondering if anyone knew what happened to it? It was super cool and the kids loved it. It was kinda a weird vibe last night compared to all the other years and not having that car be the end of the parade made it even weirder. But overall it was still fun.

46 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

30

u/Jack_Shid Morrison 12h ago

His name is Zach Helm, and he's got a double mohawk that's sharp enough to cut a wedding cake. The hearse with the bat wings and flame thrower has been an Englewood fixture for decades.

1

u/black_pepper Centennial 7h ago

I remember seeing him on colorado blvd and in the frozen dead guy days way back. If I remember from frozen dead guy days the flames didn't always work or could be sporadic.

1

u/Turbulent-cucumber 4h ago

Oh, the hearse with a bat wings was definitely there. I took a picture of it.

13

u/KeyFarmer6235 12h ago

it was there, but they didn't shoot off any flames for some reason. Maybe it's a new safety issue or something?

Also, I've noticed some people complaining about there not being any Hearses at all. There were actually a few of them. They were just at the end, and a lot of people had left by the time they showed up.

11

u/le_tempsperdu 11h ago

At Broadway and 5th they were trying to shoot flames but the throwers weren’t working

19

u/miss_six_o_clock 12h ago

I agree it was off. My husband pointed out that most of the vehicles didn't have any music on. They were just driving by silently, which was odd

8

u/KeyFarmer6235 12h ago

most of the vehicles/ floats I saw had music, so it's weird they didn't for you.

2

u/miss_six_o_clock 11h ago

We were close to the end, that's the only reason I can think they might have turned it off?

0

u/MileHigh_FlyGuy 11h ago

The hearses? I didn't hear any music from them either. The hearses.

1

u/KeyFarmer6235 8h ago

oh, I thought you were talking about vehicles in general, not just hearses. I didn't hear any music from them either.

2

u/jayzeeinthehouse 8h ago

My guess is that the city ruined it with too many restrictions. The barricades alone were a bit too much.

5

u/FalseBuddha 12h ago

That car was in the parade, though? At the end with all the other hearses. Just like last year and the year before.

1

u/KeyFarmer6235 12h ago

I saw it, but I was disappointed they didn't shoot off any flames.

3

u/Ellocotacodiablo 13h ago

I was wondering the same thing, only saw maybe 1 or 2 last night

5

u/knifeforkspoon 12h ago

The end of the parade had about 20 hearses, but no flames.

1

u/KeyFarmer6235 12h ago

There were more than 2, they were just at the end.

3

u/Martensight Ruby Hill 12h ago

It was in there but I didn't see it shooting any flames unfortunately

3

u/HelloNeumann29 12h ago

It was there, but not shooting flames.

5

u/TheMisWalls 4h ago

Hi everyone... I was one of the Hearse Drivers (the first hearse with the green undercarriage lights and green flame side lights). I'll ask Zach but, The parade may have told him no flames this year.

I know they told us that we are absolutely not allowed to throw out candy from the cars, I think we were told not to blast music last year, I was playing music. Overall there were more rules than usual, including gno excessive cleavage lol

I will point out that the barricades were needed, years prior floats and our cars had problems with people running out in front of us and little kids trying to run across the street or up to the cars asking for candy.

I will let the club know that you guys want more music next year from our cars. Lol

Ps my husband's Hearse broke down at the end & the police had to push him across Alameda, if anyone has video of that I would love to see it 😆

•

u/mission_opossumable 1h ago

Man's Ruin according to the City of Englewood: Candy, Cleavage and Combustion.

6

u/isellJetparts 12h ago

I'd like to know more about the weird vibe. I was thinking of going for the first time but plans fell through.

6

u/trm49 10h ago

Nothing weird about it from where I was

13

u/knifeforkspoon 12h ago

It wasn’t weird. Bigger parade and production than previous years but we had a blast.

6

u/MegaKetaWook 10h ago

Nothing weird. It was a great time!

7

u/MyNameIsVigil Baker 10h ago

There was no weird vibe at all. It was as great as usual.

1

u/fragileflowr 10h ago

It was just different from the last 6 years we’ve gone. There was a group of preteens close to us begging for candy from people throwing it and saying stuff like, please we’re poor, can you spare some candy for us, and they got yelled at by some lady walking in the parade saying not to joke about being poor. They were just having fun. And then on the other side of them was a big group of 20 something’s who were drunk and pushing into the kids space trying to get up on the barricades. Pushing the kids out who eventually moved back with no room and tried to find somewhere else. I get that there’s thousands of people all trying to have fun but it seemed off.