The Banana car is a four seater...

Now, before I start down the story of this post you have to understand a few geographical items regarding the Art Car Parade (put on by the wonderfully interesting Orange Show Center for the Visual Arts) on Saturday...


First off, the parade route covers a strip of land about a mile and a half in length.  It runs along side Buffalo Bayou Park on a street called Allen Parkway right next to the downtown/theater district.  The parade starts at one end and then loops around and comes back again.  Got that...?

Okay, so I get my directions and was told that the booth was at the beginning of the parade route.  I park my car at one end on Montrose and start to hoof it to the booth.  On the way, I see a police officer and ask him where the parade route is; I explain that I am going to be volunteering at one of the beer tents.  He laughs and says "Oh, you are on the wrong end of the route" and highly recommends that I park my car on the other end because that is where all of the vendors are going to be.  Well, you can see where all of this is going...

I park on the other end, walk the half-mile to the parade route because that end is touching downtown and parking is at a premium.  Once I get to the parade route, I find out that the 14 Pews booth is located right by where I originally parked ( a mile and a half away)... Oh well.  It was good exercise.

The other half of this story is that after my shift was over (still before the parade started), I had to make the trek back to the car.  Now you may think that I would have been a bit perturbed at having to make the hike, but it gave me a wonderful opportunity.  You see, by walking back through the parade route I got to review up close all of the wonderful cars that took part in the parade and talk to some very interesting people.

These folks are absolutely wonderfully nuts and were having a ball!  Around 250 cars participated in the parade.  There were zombie cars, a car that was covered completely in marshmallow peeps, a pole dancing zebra on top of a car, a car that looked like a cockroach, and so many more.

I think that the two mile walk back to my car may have been the best part of the day (although I met a very interesting poet that I enjoyed talking to at the tent).  I will also admit that I was a bit tired and sore the next day, but it was really worth it.

Here is a link to the 2013 line-up.  Can't wait till next year...