At this year’s Pet Parade I saw more green-faced witches than ever in my life. The parade theme, the Wizard of Oz in its various incarnations, was eagerly taken up by the thousands of people and their pets parading along 6th Street. It was fun! It was chaos! And, surprisingly, not many of Dorothy’s dog Totos marched along, but several Cowardly Lions did–like the one at the top of this post with the big mane.
First, I want to give a tip of my hat to the organization that takes care of disabled dogs, providing mobility. Full disclosure: a friend runs the group and cares for several dogs at her home. And here is one of the dogs currently living with her. Adorable, isn’t it!
Okay, now to move along to what else I saw.
The first animals I came across as I walked toward the parade marshalling zone were donkeys from the Forever Home Donkey Rescue and Donkey Therapy organization. When I moved up on the sidewalk to take a photo of the brown one, he backed up toward me, ready to kick. Happily he was restrained by a rope. So I left the donkeys behind.
Welcome to the cosplay parade
These people are cosplayers of some kind. (Sorry I don’t keep up with cosplaying more recent than Storm Troopers so I don’t recognize their costumes.) And they were accompanied by one real dog plus FAKE pets, including this very ugly creature stashed on top of a low wall. They were, however, official entrants as you can see by the official authorized green/yellow/blue PACC bandana around that creature’s neck. (More fake pets, later.)
There were, of course, hundreds of cute pets in costume, including these. I think we have one wicked witch and one good witch/queen in these two photos.
Witches and pin-ups — cosplaying continues
Witches and pin-ups — what more could you ask for as volunteers to support the many non-profit agencies participating in this event. Good support from corporations like Suburu and Caine’s, too. PACC is the primary beneficiary of funds raised.
Keeping to tradition since 2022, leading the PACC Pet Parade was an Honor Guard and a High School band (don’t know which one) and the very hard-working parade volunteer in her yellow shirt trying to keep everyone organized. And–holy smokes–further back toward the end of the parade there was even a rock music band for our listening pleasure! And they were standing side-by-side with a girls’ dance team dressed in magenta. I didn’t see pets with either group but everyone’s support for pets counts!
Then there were snake and lizard people from the Southern Arizona Reptile Rescue organization. I’ve seen them at other events and they always draw a crowd, but reptiles are an acquired taste and not for me. Geico’s gecko–a fake pet, 6 feet tall and in a bright green costume–was also in the line up but I couldn’t get a clear picture of him.
Then there were corgis and –ta-da! — one lone chicken.
Cat lovers made a very poor show of it at this year’s parade. Well, if you don’t count this cat fuzzy representing the pet care company Fetch, I saw only one small black live cat inside a baby carriage.
While the Pet Parade is only 4 years old it is definitely becoming a “Be-There-Or-Be-Square” event for Spring in Tucson. So gather up your pets and children and march next year…or at least watch it from the sidelines. Or you can go behind the scenes, so to speak, by showing up early and talking with people lining up for the parade. Just don’t get too close to the donkeys.
Here are images from the 2023 Pet Parade. I missed the inaugural one.
