What's the deal with the King Mango Strut?

Glenn Terry explained his side of the King Mango Strut controversy in his newspaper column in yesterday's Miami Herald (click here to see it).

It's a shame that things can't be worked out. Both he and Antoinette Baldwin (both shown here at the end of last year's parade) have put in the necessary paperwork at the BID, asking for funding, but since two sets of papers came in, both have been declined.

The story going around is that one side says it's about making it commercial, the other side says it is about keeping commercialism out of it. I don't think either of them wants to make it commercial.

I do know this -- a couple of years ago, I asked Antoinette about putting a Coconut Grove Grapevine banner in the Strut or perhaps sponsoring a float, and she flat out told me, "no." She said they want to keep commercialism out of it.

I wasn't thinking at the time, I was just trying to donate money in the way of sponsorship, but I agree, once sponsors are allowed in, some tend to start calling the shots and that might water down the whole thing.

So since Glenn says he doesn't want to go commercial and Antoinette obviously does not want to go commercial, what's the problem? If there were sponsors last year, Antoinette may not have been able to mock Sarah Palin because a sponsor may not have approved, so I think the whole thing really not making much sense to a lot of people.

I just keep hoping for the day, really soon, when a call is put out for the first Strut meeting.