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