The popular and well-liked Rachael Ray, the Food Network kitchen guru, has been picked to be grand marshall of the IPL 500 Festival parade.
Kirk Hendrix, 500 Festival president and CEO said "Rachael has really got a lot cooking right now, pun intended, she appeals to a wide array of people, men and women."
"Ray joins bike-racing superstar Lance Armstrong in leading a pack of celebrities featured at the third-biggest parade in the nation, seen by more than 250,000 people on the streets of Downtown Indianapolis and a nationwide audience on ESPN2.
The parade kicks off at noon May 27.
"Ray, 37, has turned her love of cooking into stardom. She's gone from teaching cooking classes in Albany, N.Y., to being one of the Food Network's most recognized personalities. Her books are best-sellers, and she has her own magazine.
On parade day, she will share top billing with Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, who will be driving the pace car at the Indianapolis 500."
The parade's celebrity lineup
• Jorge Garcia: Actor on TV show "Lost." He plays "Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes" but also was seen on "Becker," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Spin City."
• Pat O'Brien: Host of "The Insider," a half-hour newsmagazine that airs nightly.
• Harry Wayne Casey: Lead singer of KC & the Sunshine Band. He also will be performing at the 500 Festival Snakepit Ball.
• Richard Marx: Musician who had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2004, he won a Grammy for song of the year, sharing with Luther Vandross for "Dance with my Father."
• Luke Perry: Best known for "Beverly Hills 90210," Perry also has been seen on the HBO series "Oz" and the Showtime sci-fi series "Jeremiah." He is starring in the NBC television series "Windfall," set to air this summer.
• Don Diamont: CBS soap opera star on the "The Young and the Restless," he also starred in "Marco Polo" opposite Oscar winner Jack Palance.
• ABC soap opera stars Aiden Turner and Jeff Branson of "All My Children"; Renee Goldsberry and Forbes March of "One Life to Live"; and Greg Vaughn and Jason Thompson of "General Hospital."
• Lt. General Russel L. Honore: "The Ragin' Cajun" is the highly decorated commanding general of the U.S. 1st Army in Fort Gillem, Ga., and commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina-affected areas across the Gulf Coast.
And for kids
Costumed characters: Scooby Doo, The Wild Thornberrys and Jimmy Neutron.
Giant balloons: Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Curious George and Bob the Builder, to name a few.
All of this is free unless you want to reserve seats, bleachers or chairs along the route.
Tickets to the parade are available by calling (317) 614-6400, online at www.500festival.com, AAA Hoosier Motor Club locations or any Ticketmaster outlet.
Wow, if you look at some other events across the country, our celeb list for one of the largest parades in the nation needs some work. I have been attending for numerous years and have usually enjoyed myself.
Unfortunately, today we missed over half of the parade because the 500 festival committee sold duplicate tickets in our section. So instead of having great seats, we had crappy seats that we walked over 20+ blocks with four kids under age 5 on one of the hottest most humid days of the year.
The people who bought their tix after us (as told to us by them) kept our front row great seats and wouldnt even move a bit for our kids to sit down and watch some of the parade while we worked the issue out.
We will NOT be buying tix next year. We will go early and sit in the park and not worry about whether or not we spend money on tix that might not even be legitimate tickets.
Posted by: Disappointed Parade Fan | May 27, 2006 9:18 PM | Permalink to Comment