by Gretchen Wing
Special to the Weekly
When is an invasive slug so cute you want to give it a hug? When it’s Nick Teague, squirming on the ground in a black body stocking. That’s only one of the creative “species” you might see marching or strutting in the Fifth Annual Lopez Procession of the Species on Saturday, April 18 presented by the Lopez Island Conservation Corps. Parade registration for participants begins at 3 p.m.; the procession itself kicks off at 3:30 p.m., part of an island-wide celebration of Earth Day.
Pink jellyfish with velour legs and dangling tentacles? Papier-maché donkey head with raffia mane? How about a beehive full of baby bees on a bike-towed wagon?
For those planning to create their own costume, plenty of inspiration and assistance is available. As in past years, costume-making opportunities will open in the Secondary School Art Room the week of Spring Break, April 6 – 11 on Monday,Wednesday, and Friday, 3-6 p.m., and on Saturday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Plenty of art supplies will be available, and people are welcome to bring their own materials.
Costumes must follow only three rules: no written words, no motors, and no live animals.
Of course, “species” comprise the plant and fungal kingdoms, and creepy-crawlies as well as fuzzy creatures. Past processions have included trees with real bark and branches; spotted mushrooms; dragonflies and Nick’s slug.
“A little boy kept trying to feed me grass,” Nick recalls. “I was really into it.”
The first procession kicked off 20 years ago in Olympia to celebrate Earth Day’s 25th anniversary, and to support Congressional renewal of the Endangered Species Act. Among its founding tenets is the goal to “empower our role in global preservation by discovering, recognizing, and understanding our local connection to the world around us.” Grown to include nearly 3,000 participants and over 35,000 spectators, Olympia’s Procession features art workshops and group dance practice months in advance.
Having seen the Olympia Procession, Charlie Behnke introduced the idea to Lopez in 2011 when the Lopez Island Prevention Coalition asked the LICC to put on an Earth Day event. The prevention coalition has been a generous sponsor ever since. The Conservation Corp’s Amanda Wedow, one of the original organizers, says, “The Procession of the Species is a celebration of life. It is an opportunity to connect with nature in a fun and creative way. While making art that represents a species, we think about how that animal or plant interacts with the world, and this allows for a greater understanding and appreciation of all life forms.”
Lopez’s Procession, on an appropriately small scale compared to Olympia’s, is nonetheless growing rapidly. Organizers emphasize the importance of music and rhythm in the Procession, so participants are urged to bring traveling instruments (i.e. drums or shakers) to play while parading. Don’t have time to make a costume? There are always plenty of extra costume bits to grab and borrow.
Feel more like cheering than parading? Spectators are just a different kind of participant, so by all means, come and watch; bring friends and make new ones.
