ITHACA, N.Y. — As a townie, the Ithaca Festival Parade has long been a sacred stomping ground and vibrant display of local Ithaca culture.
This year’s parade didn’t disappoint. There’s something to be said about the magic (and chaos) of most of Ithaca flocking to one location to cheer on friends, and represent what about the town they love most — in all the years I’ve been watching the parade, I don’t think I’ve ever once been bored.
Here are some of my favorite Ithaca moments from yesterday’s parade:
Don’t forget! Day 2 of The Ithaca Festival is happening today, for the first time, in collaboration with the GIAC festival.
For more information o the GIAC festival, which kicked off at 11 a.m., click here. The festival performance schedule can be found here.
The Volvo Ballet, need I say more? This float has always been, and will probably always be, my favorite.
The Ithaca Voice’s own Wholigan (Jennifer Wholey) passed by with the Ithaca League of Women Rollers and her GoPro helmet!
: As Ithaca Voice Founder Jeff Stein made clear in his piece for Vox this past April, it wouldn’t be a true display of Ithaca culture without a Bernie moment.
Ithaca is Gourdgeous? That’s a new one to me. More importantly, where do I get one of these?
: A physics bus? With huge bubbles? Sometimes Ithaca, you really get me.
: No, you can’t really walk cats up for adoption in the parade. But it seems that the SPCA figured out the next best thing.
Local, organic, free range chicken? Yep, sounds about right.
This woman was intensely tossing celery and apples into the air, and acted like it was the most normal thing ever to be doing. As an Ithaca native, I really shouldn’t be surprised, but I’m still not sure if I’ve processed this fully.
It wouldn’t be the Ithaca Fest Parade without an impressive hat, or two, or twenty.
Lastly, “The Spirit of Christmas Present.” I’m including this mostly as a plea for help; can anyone explain this one to me? Maybe I’m missing something obvious, but I can’t figure it out.
