The Grand Marshal of the 2007 Strawberry Festival is sure to bring the theme of &#8220Strawberried Treasure" to life. If there's one thing John &#8220Ol' Chumbucket" Baur knows, it's pirates.

Baur, 52, is the co-founder of International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept. 19) and the co-writer of the book &#8220Pirattitude!" He and friend Mark &#8220Cap'n Slappy" Summers invented the Talk Like a Pirate Day (TLAPD) more than a decade ago and the concept took off in ways they never imagined.

&#8220It has gone from being a one-day-a-year practical joke to being a lifestyle," said Baur, who lives in Albany with his wife and children.

Baur and his wife, Tori &#8220Mad Sally" Baur, will ride in the Strawberry Festival grand parade on Saturday.

TLAPD originated in 1995. The holiday got a big publicity boost in 2002 when humorist and writer Dave Barry brought the day to widespread attention.

&#8220We give him all the thanks in the world for kind of launching us on an unsuspecting world," Baur said.

The Baurs got even more attention last summer when they starred in ABC's reality television show &#8220Wife Swap," which Baur described as &#8220the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life."

As tough as the experience was, the episode happened to air on Sept. 18 - one day before TLAPD. The result was a welcome spike in book sales and website hits. It also helped Sally land a book deal for a volume of Pirattitude for women.

&#8220Now there are people all around the world who think the Willamette Valley is some kind of pirate hot bed," Baur noted.

TLAPD has no higher purpose other than being fun, according to the official website (www.talklikeapirate.com). It's not something that is supposed to invite a lot of contemplation. But as something that millions of people connect to, it does.

&#8220Pirates are fun. Pirates are cool," Baur said of the appeal of the outlaw sailors. &#8220Pirates are scary fun, like when kids jump on the bed too high.

He also thinks people envy the independence of a pirate lifestyle.

&#8220They lived outside the rules of modern society. It's that freedom that people respond to," he said.

&#8220We live fairly regimented lives where we're trying to keep up with the Joneses. Pirates didn't care about what society said."

Baur and Summers invented TLAPD well before Disney created the hugely popular &#8220Pirates of the Caribbean" movie trilogy (the final installment is in theaters now).

&#8220I'd like to think that we paved the way for them," Baur said of the movies. But the Hollywood spectacle doesn't share with the pirate guys.

&#8220They have a lot more money than we do," Baur said. &#8220You'd think they'd just slosh some of it over here."

Though Hollywood hasn't come calling, Baur and Summers spend a lot of time doing interviews and making appearances for TLAPD. In the day and a half around Sept. 19, Baur said he and Summers do about 80 interviews.

One of the strangest experiences he has had promoting TLAPD came when he and Summers did a phone interview with a radio station in Amsterdam. Though their segment was in English, the show was in Dutch. While waiting on the line to speak with the producer, Baur heard another guest, a Star Trek Klingon, attempting to mimic the pirates.

&#8220He's a Dutch-speaking Klingon talking pirate," Baur recalled with wonder.

It's that kind of whimsy and unexpectedness that Baur says makes TLAPD special.

&#8220For one day a year, you can say 'Today I'm going to be who I want to be, or at least who I want to pretend to be,'" he said.

&#8220Plus, how many chances in your life do you get to wear a sword?"

In his non-pirate life, Baur is a writer. He recently finished a young adult novel, &#8220Chance," that is now being shopped to publishers. Whether or not he will ever become as famous for something else as he has for TLAPD remains to be seen, but Baur has enjoyed the journey so far.

&#8220It's not the way you would choose to come to the world's attention, but it's been a hell of a ride. And when the wave comes up, you ride the wave."