The seventh Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts will welcome community members of all ages to participate in an evening of family-friendly expression, community and environmental consciousness this Saturday.
The parade will kick off at the Roosevelt A.R.T.S. Market at 6:45 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. Performances and activities will start at 5 p.m.
Sahar Mitchell and Dr. Reverend Stephen Strange, the husband-and-wife duo behind the Strange Family Circus and two of the three parade directors, said the parade focuses on diversity.
“We do invite different types of artists — visual artists, dancers, musicians and circus performers — so we run a spectrum of what expression can be,” Mitchell said.
“The collection of the event really is just about bringing the groups of our metropolis together,” Strange said. “Everything from the person who is already sleeping on the street that we are on, to the person who owns the building towering above it, getting them all together in the Phoenix streets.”
Instead of the traditional parade format, with a clear division between participants and spectators, Mitchell encourages everyone to join.
“It is really about blurring that line between artist and audience by having everybody be involved and show their support as a community,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she is proud of how environmentally friendly the parade is. The kids’ crafts and majority of the floats are made from recycled materials.
Also, the parade is non-motorized, meaning everyone is either walking or biking.
Long-time winner of the float contest and local artist Jason Allan Davis continued the green efforts by using recycled cardboard to craft the parade’s awards –- Best Bike, Best Costume, Best Group, Most “Cute” and Best Float.
Davis said he is a supporter of PAPA and the awareness it brings to the art community in downtown Phoenix.
“This is the epitome of what we are supposed to be doing as artists,” he said. “It is definitely branching out into other portions of community that don’t actually get a voice very often.”
Hope Rolnick, a 26-year-old stay-at-home mom, said she is excited to spend time with her children at the parade.
“It is something to let the kids go crazy at. We are definitely always looking for free stuff. We have two six year-old daughters so it can be crazy with low finances,” Rolnick said.
The parade was inspired by the Tucson Halloween procession, All Souls. PAPA has started working with the non-profit that organizes All Souls called Many Mouths One Stomach.
“Once we had kids and couldn’t travel as much, we decided that we wanted something like that to take our kids to,” Mitchell said.
She wanted to create an art-friendly event for her children. Mitchell’s kids have started calling it their parade.
Strange reminds participants to not only be safe, but to be aware that laws still apply.
“Free expression does not mean that this is in any way international waters. All safety and legal standards still apply,” Strange said. “Build something responsibly, don’t build anything that is going to collapse on any children and cover all of your vital parts.”
Contact the reporter at aimackli@asu.edu
