Ever since reaching official, albeit somewhat notorious recognition somewhere around 1985, Jimmy Buffett’s prolific Parrotheads have become known for throwing back boat drinks, dressing in slinky grass skirts and coconut bras (and that’s just the guys), and tailgating in hardscrabble parking lots before their favorite troubadour’s concerts.

Critics who dismiss them as nothing more than wannabe beach bums who are perpetually “growing older but not up” may be surprised to learn JB’s rabid fanbase has also just as often been known to pick up discarded beer bottles alongside busy highways, to don their club T-shirts in adult kickball games for charity and to otherwise put their best feet forward toward other righteous causes they believe in via their mantra “Party with a Purpose,” which they’ve been charged with by both Parrot Heads in Paradise – a kind of a national, parent organization – and Buffett himself.

“You know, I think a lot of people out there really do sort of have that preconceived notion, that ‘Hey, there goes a bunch of Parrotheads! All they ever like to do is dress up funny, go to Jimmy Buffett concerts and get drunk,’” said Black Swamp Parrotheads president, and Oregon native Don Dauer, 53.

Dauer has personally been privy to the stigma for about 37 years now, having been an aficionado of Buffett’s tropical-flavored music and the coconutty-sweet island lifestyle that goes along with it, ever since hearing “Come Monday” on the radio in the mid-1970s and buying the canonical “You Had to be There” – Buffett’s first live album, shortly thereafter.

“And while to a certain extent that stigma may be somewhat true,” relents Dauer, “the Black Swamp Parrotheads also do a tremendous amount of work for all kinds of local charities, as do the various other Parrothead clubs around the country, by way of fundraising and through different service projects.”

Formed in about 1996, the Black Swamp Parrotheads, initially known as the Pirates of the Black Swamp, have been making big differences in and around the local charity scene almost since the beginning, when an ad in the paper drew upwards of 200 to Ragtime Rick’s for the first meeting. Initially, 100 people signed on to join the new club.

A decade and a half later, the Black Swamp Parrotheads have seen their fair share of “good days, bad days and going-half-mad-days” and throughout the growing pains, the members who have stuck together have done so out of a mutual love of one man’s special brand of music, which not only inspires them to celebrate life but also to give back to the community – joined together like some sort of feel-good conga line.

For instance, there’s the Black Swamp Parrotheads’ ongoing relationship with the Northwest Ohio Miracle League – an organization that’s close to Dauer’s heart since his 13-year-old son Joel, suffers from cerebral palsy. The Miracle League helps children like Joel have a chance to know the joys of taking part in America’s favorite pastime of baseball.

Dauer, his wife Joyce and their fellow Parrots have supported the Miracle League’s mission by raising funds to help build the Field of Dreams in Northwood. Located in Brentwood Park, the field features a fully-adaptable rubberized surface.

The Black Swamp Parrotheads also co-hosted an adult kickball tournament at the field alongside the League, with all entry fees and monies raised from concessions going back to the kids. This year’s tourney will be held Sunday, Oct. 9. There is a $10 donation per player. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. Game time is at noon.

The Parrotheads will also be putting their best feet forward by participating in the Northwest Ohio Memory Walk at the Lucas County Rec Center Sunday, Oct. 2, a 1.25-mile jaunt to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association – an effort that JB would likely be pleased about since his father James D. Buffett Jr., suffered from the disease.

Club members have also been seen slogging upwards of six or more miles along Route 2 just outside of Curtice picking up litter through the Ohio Department of Transportation’s “Adopt-a-Highway” program (see their sign just a coconut’s throw from the gas station on the corner).

There have also been charity cookouts, Christmas parties at Packo’s at the Park during which they’ve donated to the Humane Society and so many more events – all to which Jimmy Buffett’s music has provided the breezy soundtrack.

“Come join us, because being a member of a Parrothead club, whether we’re working or playing, is just a whole lotta fun,” Dauer said.

“In our club we have lawyers, barbers, writers, teachers, nurses, EMTs and more,” he says of his “plock.” “Jimmy’s music defies stereotype. Is it rock? Is it country? Is it tropical? I think what unites people is that it’s simply feel-good music, that takes us to places we’d love to be.

“And over the years, I think that music has helped us do a lot of good work for a lot of good people in our charities and through service projects,” he said.

“And I think in return, it’s offered us as Parrotheads a lifetime of joy, pleasure, and escapism,” he said.

Black Swamp Parrotheads club president Don Dauer and wife Joyce, with longtime Jimmy Buffett Coral Reefer guitarist Peter Mayer.

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