Category Archives: Parades

Easter Pet Parade

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This afternoon Bill and I watched the costume judging for the 13th Annual Easter Pet Parade at the South Congress location of Jo’s Coffee. About 40 dogs entered the contest. The registration fee benefited Austin Pets Alive!, a nonprofit organization with a goal to eliminate the killing of companion animals. 
The theme was “Pets in Drag” in honor of local cross-dressing celebrity Leslie Cochran, who died a month ago. Austinites certainly miss seeing Leslie around town in a negligee or bikini. Some contestants tried to capture Leslie’s signature style. 
Each dog was introduced with a little bio. One contestant’s hobbies were “sniffing butts and sleeping.” Another liked to “flirt with poodles.” “Walking on South Congress” was a popular activity.
But I noticed that the dogs all had two things in common:
very creative owners…
(Seriously. Napoleon Dynamite with a “Vote for Pedro” shirt and glasses?)
 
…and extreme patience.
After everyone had a chance to “strut their stuff”, all species took a water break while the judges conferred and made their final decisions.
Then the top five contestants were called back on stage and the winners were announced.
Third prize went to Cleopatra. When asked about this impressive costume, the owner said “it came with the dog.”
The Exterminator won second prize.
The first-place winner was this little pink-and-leopard-skin dog with matching owner… definitely Leslie-inspired costumes!

Tejano Monument and Parade

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Last Thursday the new Tejano Monument was unveiled on the Texas State Capitol Grounds. Mounted on top of a huge granite slab are eleven life-size bronze statues, honoring the early Spanish and Mexican settlers in Texas: a Spanish explorer, a vaquero (cowboy), two longhorns, and a pioneer family. Five bronze plaques trace the history of Tejanos from the early 1500s through the 20th century.

Many events celebrating Tejano history were held in Austin last week. I could not attend Thursday’s ceremony, but I did watch the Nosotros Los Tejanos parade on Saturday morning. This parade was one of the best that I’ve seen since moving to downtown Austin, with high marks in the following categories:

Most Enthusiastic Cheering for a Monument Sculptor (Armando Hinojosa)

Most Educational Signage on Floats

Most Descendants of Famous Tejanos

Most Mariachi Bands
Most Horses and Riders

HONK!TX

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Last weekend sixteen street bands from all over the US converged on Austin for the second annual HONK!TX festival. Wikipedia describes street bands as “ambulatory, acoustic bands playing music in public spaces.” I would also add “…dressed in outlandish costumes and doing things with hula hoops.” 

The first two days of HONK!TX took place up near the University of Texas, then the festival moved downtown for the final day. Bill and I watched the bands pass by on East Sixth Street. Minor Mishap Marching Band from Austin brought up the rear of the parade. (We became fans of this band.at last December’s Downtown Stroll,) Along with other bystanders, we followed the parade about six blocks over to Republic Square Park. 

The bands took turns performing on the patio under the large oak tree at Republic Square Park. In general, the songs had New Orleans brass and European folk music influences, with a little klezmer and jazz improvisation thrown in now and then. But having said that, one band played Arcade Fire’s Wake Up. And Austin’s Academicos Da Opera is a  Brazilian samba group with plenty of drums and dancing girls. 
The performers seemed to be former high school and college “band nerds” who still enjoy playing their instruments and wearing costumes. Many were 20-somethings, but a few looked to be much older.
The March Madness Marching Band from Lexington Kentucky staged an elaborate dream-sequence play, complete with witches and evil monsters. 

The Forward! Marching Band came in from Wisconsin for the festival. This group had  excellent soloists…perhaps UW-Madison music majors?

Many bands featured hula hoopists and some were really quite talented. I guess majorettes are no longer fashionable? 

Report to State Parade: 2012

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Last Saturday Boy Scouts from all over Texas converged in Austin for the annual Report to State Parade. The name says it all: scouts from the far reaches of the state travel here to report on what is happening in their area. For local scouts, this just means waking up a little earlier on a Saturday morning and heading downtown. But for many boys, this is a great opportunity to camp in central Texas and visit the state capitol.

ROT 2011

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 We Survived ROT 2011.

 

Bill and I were warned to leave downtown Austin before 40,000+ bikers converged on the Austin area for this past weekend’s Republic Of Texas (ROT) Biker Rally. But due to “scheduling difficulties” we decided to ride it out [pun intended].

The actual rally was held at the Travis County Expo Center. The Doobie Brothers and Eddie Money were headliners. According to ROT’s official blog: “Rally goers were treated to live music, custom bikes, stunt shows and tattoos.”  

Bill and I ventured out to watch the ROT parade on Friday evening. We waited patiently along Congress Avenue for the bikers to make the five-mile trip from the Expo Center. Texas Rollergirls skated around, trying to drum up business for their Saturday bout. Finally the parade arrived downtown around 8 PM.

After passing the Capitol, the bikers paraded south on Congress Avenue, u-turned near Second Street, and headed back north to park down the center of Congress Avenue. Except for the noise, exhaust fumes, occasional flames and quite a few scary-looking people, the parade was fun to watch. 

The parade lasted about an hour. The ROT organizers hoped to set a Guiness World Record for the “World’s Longest Motorcycle Parade.” I don’t know if the record was set, but it was certainly the longest—and loudest—motorcycle parade in my record book.

Eventually most of Congress Avenue turned into a motorcycle parking lot. Bikers headed off to party on Sixth Street. The rest of us strolled among the bikes. 

All in all, ROT weekend in downtown Austin wasn’t as bad as we expected. Bill and I spent many hours at the Paramount Theater watching Charlie Chaplin films. We saw Matt and Kim at Stubb’s. We avoided melees on Sixth Street. And we didn’t drive our cars much …which was probably safer than being on the roads filled with motorcycles!