Everyone loves a parade! The only problem is that there are not enough of them. At least not enough really, really good parades. On Saturday August 3, 2013, the Circus of Life Parade will leave from Grant Street* at 5pm and march over to the Massachusetts Avenue Park. It’s a do-it-yourself (DIY) parade filled with giant puppets and masked marvels (the non-superhero type), stilt-walkers, flags and banners, recycled costumed characters and marching and meandering musicians. The handmade outfits will all be constructed on Grant Street and Massachusetts Avenue over the course of a week.
The parade is a celebration of summer and West Side diversity, as seen by the people behind The WASH Project (see here). It as at WASH headquarters (and other sites) where neighborhood youth will learn to construct all of the ingredients needed to host a valiant parade, with the help of the Massachusetts Avenue Project, People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), and the Grant Street Neighborhood Center.
Following the parade there will be a picnic at the Massachusetts Avenue Park. The free event will be filled with all sorts of surprises from start (the construction of the costumes is underway) to finish (think acrobats, dancers and a Tin Can Orchestra).
Come celebrate summer with some new friends from all over the world. Interested parties looking to help construct the outfits, instruments and masks, etc., can contact Kyla Kegler at pherumphos@gmail.com. Kyla is the WASH artist in residence, hailing from Berlin.
*The circus will leave from the Grant Street Neighborhood Center – 271 Grant Street (PUSH) and end at 360 Massachusetts Avenue with picnic. The WASH project – Facebook