If you’ve ever been to Tulip Time in Holland, MI, you know that it could do with a few more pirates. Some enterprising students have “stepped up”:http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/051204/loc_051204002.shtml/ :

Nineteen youths who dressed as pirates have been issued tickets for joining Thursday’s Kinderparade during Tulip Time because they lacked authorization to participate . . . The group of West Ottawa students, calling themselves The American Pirate Association, carried a banner and were dressed in pirate garb when they joined Thursday’s parade . . . Police dispersed the group near the intersection of Eighth Street and Pine Avenue. Most of the pirates fled when police closed in on them, but Fegel and one other “went down with the ship.”

Hat tip to Marty Wondergem, who noted in an email:

My co-worker’s son said the “captain” is a really hilarious guy, and when the police confronted him that what he was doing was illegal, he responded: “Argh, and what would ja do about it, mateys?”

I don’t have the time to get a DC chapter of the APA going, but if somebody else does, I’m in.