Jeanne Prueher allows her grown son to dress her up in heavy metal T-shirts as a joke.
It's Nick Prueher's idea, but even he admits it's a dumb one.
He has established a GoFundMe page for his mom. "She doesn't need help with medical bills and she didn't lose her home in a fire," he says, he just wants to build her a parade float.
Oh, and he wants to buy a Macy's-style parade balloon in her image and tie it to the float.
The parade he wants her to rock and roll on through is the Syttende Mai procession in his hometown of Stoughton, Wis. As a joke, he buys his mom tons of heavy metal T-shirts, then takes photos of her doing mom things like putting Cool Whip on pumpkin pie.
His idea is to construct a heavy metal parade float, then place his mother on it, who will knit while speakers blast dark, metal rock at ear-splitting levels.
"She is a great sport and I intend to push it as far as I can on May 20th," he wrote on the fundraising site. The annual parade is in tribute to Norway's Constitution Day. Preher remembers getting up at 6 a.m. as a child and dragging a lawn chair to Main Street to get a good seat.
The festivities include the Ugliest Troll Contest, clogging, and local business owners dressed up as their products (as in a walking tooth for a dental provider).
"It’s going to be great but it’s going to be expensive," Nick wrote. "My mom knows about the parade and is totally on board but she has no idea about the balloon or what I have planned for the float. I can't wait to see her reaction when we unveil it!"
There are door prizes for donors to the site.
"If you donate $50 or more, I'll also send you a Metal Mom temporary tattoo and you get to suggest a metal song to blare to parade goers," Nick promises. For $100, you'll get the above, plus "a limited edition Metal Mom embroidered patch."
Nick acknowledges there are more deserving GoFundMe accounts. "But I can't think of a more wonderfully dumb cause than this. I'd really appreciate your support in making this dumb dream come true."
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