The People's Joy Parade takes place on and around Cherokee Street, certainly one of our more unusual districts. The sign gives some idea of the variety of businesses it contains. It's also the commercial center of our Hispanic community, smaller than in most U.S. cities but still active and colorful.
I didn't get to see many other parts of the parade because I had an eight year old to supervise. These clowns, seen earlier, were in front of our Artica group. From time to time they would stop at an intersection, work up the crowd, and fire off a confetti canon.
Hard not to notice this fellow at the parade. He had a flute so I asked him if he was dressed as Krishna. He looked a bit puzzled so I said, you know, blue skin, flute . . . ? He said with a chuckle that he used to belong to the Hare Krishnas but now he was a satanist. Whatever. I'm just the photographer.
Ellie and I marched with the Artica crew down the route of the People's Joy Parade. I didn't get out to visit the other groups because she isn't old enough to go on her own but the two of us still had a good time. Artica's entry was a giant dragonfly mounted on the back of a pickup truck. The wings moved and two of the marchers guided them with ropes so they didn't get torn off in the trees. This took a lot of work.
The floats and marching groups in the People's Joy Parade emphasize creativity and whimsy, not high end production values. Always present is the Banana Bicycle Brigade, led by a bike covered, as you could guess, with plastic bananas. The other designs are up to individual members. I'm not sure if you would call the one on the left a shrimp or a crawfish. Good thing the giraffe has a high seat and handle bars or it would probably topple over..
My friend here marched along with me and the Artica crew in the People's Joy Parade. As is usually the case, face painting was available for the kids. Ellie is crazy about unicorns and got just what she wanted.
The People's Joy Parade went off on schedule yesterday with glorious weather. It was wonderful to have it back after a three year break. This group of clowns, ranging from macabre to just plain weird, always shows up, although there were more of them than I remember from other years. Ellie won't go near the two on the left.
