[QueenAngie]

15th Annual New York City April Fool’s Day Parade


In 2000 a news release was sent to the media stating that the 15th annual New York City April Fool's Day Parade was scheduled to begin at noon on 59th Street. The route would proceed down to Fifth Avenue.

According to the release, floats in the parade would include a "Beat 'em, Bust 'em, Book 'em" float created by the New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle police departments.

This float would portray "themes of brutality, corruption and incompetence." A "Where's Mars?" float, reportedly built at a cost of $10 billion, would portray missed Mars missions.

The "Atlanta Braves Baseball Tribute to Racism" float would feature John Rocker who would be "spewing racial epithets at the crowd."

CNN and the Fox affiliate WNYW sent television news crews to cover the parade.

CNN & FOX arrived at 59th Street at noon only to discover that there was no sign of a parade, at which point the reporters realized they had been hoaxed.

The prank was the handiwork of Joey Skaggs, an experienced hoaxer. Skaggs had been issuing press releases advertising the nonexistent parade every April Fool's Day since 1986.

Happy April Fool's Day!