Extreme quirkiness drives crowd crazy at Art Car parade
City’s hallmark of zaniness rolls into 30th year
It was the perfect carefree Saturday — a day to blow bubbles, grab a beer or lick an ice pop before Houston’s zaniest tradition began rolling downtown on the sunniest of afternoons.
It started with Mayor Sylvester Turner waving from a jet car and got weirder from there. A silvery Batmobile rolled by, soon followed by a skeleton riding a bright red space shuttle.
Thousands of eager onlookers expected nothing less from the annual Art Car parade, now in its 30th year. They crammed the streets around Hermann Square to catch glimpses of 250 elaborate vehicles decorated to show a scene, carry a message or simply thrill the audience.
The parade, sponsored by the The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, started in 1988 with only 40 cars. It has since grown to attract artists from 23 states, as well as Canada and Mexico.
“It started out so small, so fragile, so out of left field,” said Marilyn Oshman, the Orange Center’s founder. “There’s something about the ethos of this city that appeals to free action and energy that is constantly being reinvented somewhere.”
Most of this year’s entries were designed by Houston residents, but many traveled hundreds of miles to join the procession. An Arizona man drove the decked-out “Nevada Truck,” and the Zenthemed “Namaskar” came straight from California.
Cheech Marin, best known as part of the hippie standup comedy duo Cheech & Chong, served as this year’s grand marshal. An avid Chicano art collector, he rode in a 1959 custom-painted Cadillac convertible during his first appearance at the parade.
Chelsea Schneider, who recently moved to Houston from Austin, grabbed the last autographed copy of Marin’s new memoir at the merchandise stand before manning the sidelines as an event helper for St. Arnold’s Brewing Company. She smiled at the parade’s
authentic quirkiness, different than the sort of spectacle she’d expect to see in the state capital.
“It’s not a forced kind of weird,” she said.
Further down the sidewalk, Carole Billingsley held a koozie-swathed beer in one hand and a purple bubble wand in the other. She preferred the old parade route along Allen Parkway, but she nonetheless staked out a spot on the sidelines as she has for the last 20 years.
“I like being with my friends, blowing bubbles and waving to the cars,” she said.
Her friend Sheila Turkiewicz cheered for a rolling tribute to Picasso, Van Gogh and other giants of the art world. The car, created by students at Lake Jackson Intermediate, was one of dozens entered by local schools.
“The art cars make me happy,” she said. “I like that they get the kids involved.”
Sophie Fuller especially appreciated an old van carrying a model of the Houston skyline, a miniature replica of the buildings towering above. She discovered the parade three years ago and has since returned to see people from all parts of Houston converge.
“I like that it brings everyone together,” she said. “We’re so spread out.”
Tom Langland and his wife raised their cameras as each car passed, eager to promote the event on their website, “RV Texas Y’all.” They were especially excited to see an RV from California appear for the first time.
“We’re seeing people come from all over,” said Langland, who has watched the show grow since his childhood.
At last, the Californian RV rolled by, bearing a mosaic of shiny tiles and row of chalkboards where someone, apparently, had been forced to write lines. In small white letters, they bore a tongue-in-cheek promise: “I will not paint or glue things to my RV.”
It was a father-daughter day for Tim and Amanda DeBord, a chance to celebrate Amanda’s move to Houston from New Orleans. She now lives with her dad, a longtime fan of the parade who was eager to share the tradition with his daughter.
“It’s not at all what I was expecting,” she said. “It’s really fun.”