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[Music]
Bringing people together these days is a
feat.
Thousands of people coming joyfully
together to create a mile long beautiful
playful spectacle for themselves and
their community is a wonder. Look at our
Hilton Head Island Lantern Parade.
Now, I've thrown like a hundred parades
and I still get misty eyed every single
time. I look out at parade lineup and I
think I just get chills, you know, and I
think, God, people are so wonderful.
People are full of the loveliest
surprises. God, I just I love people.
Now, you know, we do not feel that way
about humanity all that often.
I know you know if you drive in Atlanta
traffic
or read the news.
Parades create a space above and away
from the fray where we come together
simply to delight one another. Whether
you're marching in the parade or
cheering on the sidelines, you are
absolutely delighting each other. It's
these little exchanges between people
are where we are, the community is
seeing its best self. We see that our
collective character can be so sweet. We
see how we all love putting smiles on
the faces of strangers and how we value
making each other laugh.
Parades illuminate the thread of
commonality between us that is dearly
lovable. Seeing the people you share a
city with as playful volumes of light
does a body good. It's restorative. Even
if it's just for an hour, it's life
affirming.
Parades bring us together and raise our
spirits. And that serves our collective
well-being like no other public art
form.
This is my 15th year working in Parade
Arts with my beloved crew of the
Grateful Gluttons based in Atlanta.
[Laughter]
We have seven annual parades rooted in
community participation.
Around 45,000
people participated and attended our
parades in 2024. In the span of our
practice, over a half a million people
have come out to play with us. That is
mind-boggling to me. I can't help but
feel that it meets a need. I think it
taps into deep soul cravings to take
part in collective joy, to celebrate
being alive together, you to dance in
the streets with strangers and be
ritually reminded that humans are full
of love. I know I need that.
We have this parade practice here in
Atlanta because my heart achd for it so
bad when I moved here from New Orleans.
But in the absence of established parade
culture, we have developed a wide openen
style of parading where everyone is
always invited to make a lantern, a
costume or a puppet and just show up and
march with us and the bands for free.
You never know who's coming or what
they're going to show up with. It's
exciting. Like early Martyra day in New
Orleans. What my crew is showing up with
is trucks full of giant illuminated
puppets. We realize the magic between
the lantern puppets and the people from
the get-go. The puppets just like summon
everyone's inner child in a heartbeat.
It's like our imaginations jump at the
chance to believe that there are
friendly giant fish swimming through the
air looking for snacks.
I think interacting with these
fantastical creatures in ordinary places
shifts our ideas about what is possible
here. It's possible that our world could
be full of beautiful surprises we can't
even imagine. It's possible that you can
dream up those surprises.
Our region did not have this kind of
parade culture and now it surely does.
We did that.
We tend to think of cultural heritage as
something outside of ourselves,
pre-existing, fixed. Cultural heritage
is a thing that you were born into or
not. And if you're not born into it,
well, you can't call it yours. As it
turns out, we have the collective agency
to create our culture, and you
personally can contribute to its
character.
Our parades are living cultural heritage
that we are inventing together and
endlessly giving away. It's good public
art, a burst of collective joy on the
calendar that everyone is always invited
to help create and own.
It is especially good parade magic when
people really own their favorite parade.
I was in Whole Foods here in Midtown and
I hear whoy who hoodie who and I I look
up and it's these two sweet ladies who
are always in our Parliament of Owls
lantern parade hooting at me over the
apples. We're the owls. Hoody.
When owls run into each other at the
grocery store, we hoodiehoo.
Parade culture is one remedy to this
loneliness epidemic we're having. I
mean, we're not just better together,
we're hilarious together.
Fun is seriously important to our
well-being.
Chloe here has been dressing up like a
gnome with us since she was a baby.
Chloe doesn't know in Atlanta without
parade culture that she can jump into
anytime she wants. I was chatting with
some college age gnomes this year. They
brought some friends from school home to
gnome. So, I'm talking to the guest
gnomes. was like, "Hey, so you do you
parade where you live?" And they were
like, "No,
we don't have anything like this." And I
see those host gnomes beaming with
pride.
It's good to be proud of your hometown
because of the culture you helped
create. When we lay down joyful, shared
memories together in a place, it's a
blessing on that place. When we have the
time of our lives on that street, in
that park, on that beach, we'll love it
there forever. And we all want to love
where we live. We want to live places
that are loved. Parades connect people
to people and people to place. I often
hear people say, "It's so boring where I
live." And I can't help but think,
"Well, what are you doing about that?"
M here built their 91-year-old grandma
from Orlando a giant peacock puppet
based on a wheelchair for her to come up
here and ride in. And they stole the
show at the Atlanta Beltline Lantern
Parade this year. People cry. I want you
folks to know that your time spent
making a really great lantern or costume
and just showing up and marching every
year is a great gift to your community.
You folks who haven't been to a parade
or thought of them as lifeaff affirming,
go watch a parade. Stand in the front,
clap, cheer loud, yell compliments, and
watch all those people light up when
they pass by you. I believe we have a
common calling to delight one another.
And that is a vital virtue of humankind.
Parades hold a space just for that.
Thank you.
[Applause]
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