Procession of the Species

Olypmia is a weird place. A lot of the people who live here drive volvos with Dennis Kucinich bumper stickers, and someone is protesting something at least every week somewhere in the town. While I often mock the overt tofu-iness of the town, I must say most of the time I like it here; we have a really good film society, a nice farmers market - and two used bookstores.
Instead of a normal parade we have Arts Walk and Procession of the Species - a fairly loosely organized collection of dancing people in homeade costumes, paper mache animals, and some people that just seem to jump in and walk around because they feel like it.

Procession is the last part of Arts Walk - a weekend where downtown stores host local artists, the symphony has a musical instrument petting zoo, and lots of street performers (including Leif, everyones favorite juggler). I don't actually get to go inside and see the art because you don't go anywhere near a store with a bulldog and two young boys.
The whole day was lots of fun - Chester was extremely popular, and he ate it all up. He stopped for every random person to pet him and take his picture with their cell phone. The boys got
to run around and draw in the streets, and they love the parade.
Here are a few pictures from the parade itself to give you an idea of what it looks like.
It is just fun to watch - mostly it is people dancing around in bright costumes with their kids. There are groups, but other than the samba and belly dancing groups, it is a little hard to figure out who they are. It is definitely all very weird, but there is something very fun about watching a 65 year old belly dancing her heart out, really not caring that it isn't an appropriate thing to do, but having a good time all the same.