SANTA CRUZ - In Santa Cruz, the party never really gets started until someone plugs in the electric sitar.
One of the most unique New Year's celebrations anywhere made its return to Pacific Avenue Saturday night, as several hundred revelers took part in the annual DIY Parade, a bizarre blend of hippies, clowns, mohawks, funky wigs, stilts, musical instruments, peace signs and even a beach ball emblazoned with a single word: "Spam."
"Santa Cruz is a unique place where people enjoy freedom of expression all the time," said Santa Cruz reveler Susan Brackenbury, wearing a cap with several colors of horns protruding from it. "We aren't afraid to express ourselves no matter what, and we will do what we want when we want to. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."
Officially called Last Night, the DIY started in 2005 to replace the city's First Night celebrations, which were ticketed and had the stamp of official approval but went belly up. The DIY is, perhaps, the only New Year's parade anywhere that carries its own manifesto, which is aimed at protecting the parade's aggressively unofficial status.
The motley fiesta returned Saturday, perhaps a bit smaller than some other years but joyful nonetheless. Marchers traversed Pacific Avenue from Laurel to Mission streets, carrying signs and waving as people watched. Mayor Don Lane enjoyed the scene from a sidewalk bench.
Whitney Wilde of Santa Cruz helped promote an early version of the parade, but insists the only organizing effort consists of Facebook reminders. She was dressed to resemble an opera singer gone bad, with a shimmering gold dress, Mardi Gras mask and red lipstick smeared far beyond the boundaries of where it is normally applied.
"This town likes to feel community," Wilde said, observing a drum circle surrounded by people wearing Christmas lights as fashion accessories. "They are all friendly with each other and they don't know each other."
Santa Cruz police had about 100 officers on duty New Year's Eve, and the city tripled the normal fines for offenses such as having an open container or urinating in public. Police Chief Kevin Vogel said a successful night would be one without violence.
"For the police department, the main objective is to keep this event safe," Vogel said. As of press time, there were no major incidents.
As the parade congregated at the end of Pacific Avenue, old and young mingled in various states of costume. A man on stilts danced, as well as a man on stilts can, as several kilt-wearing bagpipe players joined a drum circle. Then a man rolled an amplifier up, plugged in an electric sitar, and started jamming.
"There's babies here, my friend is here and
White-clad DIY Parade marchers set up their makeshift float outside of Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz on Saturday evening. The float was a memorial to the 39 homeless people that died in the county in 2011. (KEVIN JOHNSON/SENTINEL)
she's 73," Wilde said. "So it's not like it's one age. It's not like it's young, running wild anarchists, you know? It's the whole community."That was when a man dressed as the patron saint of anarchists, Guy Fawkes, ambled by wearing a mask that has become a symbol of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
As he passed, someone blew glitter into the night sky.
Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_19653032?source=rss_viewed
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