Decorah celebrates Earth Day with Parade

Described as a joyous spontaneous and delightful artistic pageant celebrating our relationship with the natural world and each other, the event seeks to create a bridge between the arts, the environment, and the local community.

The Decorah Procession is one of several taking place around the country that owe their inspiration to a much larger, 10 year old event that takes place in Olympia, WA. Seven weeks of arts and environmental education events build knowledge and inspiration for the Procession of the Species Celebration, which draws thousands of visitors to the area.

“This year’s procession is our humble beginning to create interest in a similar event for our area,” says Heidi Swets, one of the volunteers working to plan the event. “All of us who are working on this project share, I think, a desire to stir the imagination, to inspire a behavior of reverence, respect and celebration among people for the natural world around us, as well as a greater sense of responsibility as active participants in the miracle of it. This is a very old tradition really, a kind of community ritual practiced by many other cultures, where members create artistic and symbolic costumes and puppets to honor the non-human life around them, doing it in a very sincere and public way.”

Participating in the Procession

The actual procession will begin at 12:00 noon Saturday, April 23 in the Municipal Parking Lot across from Decorah City Hall. Participation is open to all ages and the route is a leisurely path proceeding east on Claiborne Drive past Decorah High School to State Street, south on State to Water Street, then west on Water Street to Mechanic and then north back to the lot.

To prepare, one simply needs to ask, “Who do I feel called to represent?” For a class of preschool children, the answer might be a whole family of frogs, after masks are made of cereal boxes and paint.

Two friends might fly in as the first returning monarchs, fluttering high on stilts.

Maybe a group of prairie enthusiasts have donned their purple coneflower hats to make the monarchs feel at home.

Further down the street you might see a whole bunch of Trout Unlimited members come as Brook Trout simply represented on brightly painted cardboard silhouettes on sticks.

And then there are worms and creatures of the night that must not be forgotten, or fossils of a species, or a field of tall grasses…

“There’s plenty of room for thinking big and ‘out of the box’ too,” says Swets. “We’re not just talking about animal species, but plants too, and fungi and whole ecosystems. I heard about a kayaking group in Olympia who carried a flowing 50 ft piece of blue Mylar down the street as 8 other members of their group tossed fish-shaped nerf balls back and forth over it, the whole length of the procession. And others who were the Wind — 50 brightly colored windsocks flying high above the moving crowd.”

Dancers and music makers too

Like any other procession, dancers and music makers, even jesters will be needed too. Drummers and other percussionists are welcome, as well as any other instrument that can move. Homemade rhythm making instruments that toot, rattle, or jingle, as well as spoons and 5-gallon bucket drums are encouraged. Friends choosing to “procession” together may want to get together beforehand and decide on what their beat or musical phrase is going to be.

“The Winona, Minnesota procession includes a great samba band from St. Mary’s University,” Swets added. “Hopefully some equally lively folks will surface for us.”

Likewise, participants are urged to consider how they will cover ground during the procession, by imitating their species, following a choreographed dance, using flags for streamers to create motion or simply moving as the spontaneous sounds around them inspire.

Three Rules and Workshops

To discourage commercial influence and encourage creativity and sharing, there are three rules for the Procession: no written words, no live pets and no motorized vehicles.

To help provide ideas for mask and costume making, as well as simple puppets, banners, and silhouettes, two workshops are planned for Saturday, March 26 and Saturday, April 2nd. Both will take place at 113 E. Water (formerly House of York Antiques) and run from 10-3 pm. The same workshop space will be open for drop in project work Saturday, April 9 and 13, from 1-4 pm.

Registration Required

Pre-registration for the workshops is required, due to space limitations. Although many materials will be supplied, participants will be requested to bring certain items along. Registration for the procession is strongly encouraged, for logistical reasons, but not required.

To register for either, or for more information, call Ketel Paulson 563-382-5274, Michelle Barness 563-382-1741 or Heidi Swets at 563-382-2451.

Donations Desired

As this is an all-volunteer event, organizers welcome monetary donations to cover printing and postage costs as well as workshop supplies. Certain mask and costume making supplies are also needed, such as brightly colored paint, clean chicken wire and burlap, old sheets and other fabric, foam scraps. A more complete list of needed tools and creating materials can be seen at www.blueaction.org/allspeciesproject.

Anyone wishing to make donations of materials or funds, please contact any of the above Procession volunteers.

Eco Fair

Following the Procession, at the Municipal Parking lot, will be an Eco Fair featuring displays and informational booths about environmental topics, products and services; children’s activities; light refreshment and music. Anyone wishing to share something at the EcoFair should contact Barness at 382-1741 or Swets at 563-382-2451 or hswets@willinet.net.

Sponsors and Inspiration

Sponsors for the Procession and EcoFair include Black Earth Collaborative Arts, Upper Iowa Audubon, City of Decorah, Winneshiek County Conservation, Spectrum Recycling, Decorah Hatchery, Oneota Community Coop, Go Solar, Storypeople and the Driftless Area All Species Project.

To view scenes from Decorah’s “sister Procession”, see www.procession.org.

For more information about the Decorah procession, please see www.blueaction.org/allspeciesproject.