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Photos: Here's What A $1,500 Kickstarter-Funded Rainbow Parade Looks Like
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 28, 2012
Modified Apr 17, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 28, 2012
Modified Apr 17, 2014
Share
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We were skeptical that a 33-year-old woman would need to raise $1,500 on Kickstarter to host the "world's largest rainbow parade" over the Brooklyn Bridge as a birthday event, and were shouted down by many colors of the spectrum just for saying so. Well today was the big day, and here's what a $1,500 parade looks like.
There were big, bright balloons and fancy temporary tattoos and the Hungry March Band and Girl Walk // All Day star John Doyle teaching dance moves, and the Girl Walk // All Day film crew was there to document the action along with Recordsetter representatives who in fact confirmed that the 162-person strong parade was the largest ever (in the world!) and cupcakes, boxes of cupcakes…
But did these people really need to shell out $1,500 to make this happen? Does anyone really know what a "proper" rainbow parade looks like? Are there back issues of Cavalcade Quarterly that discuss the proper streamer-to-ribbon ratio and the importance of selecting durable balloon material? Should the joy of spending time with your fellow man in public cost more than a thousand dollars?
Also, we're left wondering about the significance and necessity of the event being a "world record." Surely world records are set every second in New York City: longest subway toenail clipping (single session), most police cars parked in a single bike lane, loneliest death, etc. Hell, we just crammed a carton of Marlboro reds into a rainbow trout and smoked them all at once through the fish's eye—how is that not the world record for trout-eye-smoking?*
Arrington's Kickstarter was so successful that she raised an additional $2,340, though she hasn't yet decided where the additional money is going (although she put up a "backer's only" post so the answer may lie there) but we've asked her via email.
It must be noted that those in attendance seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially the children. We can't wait to happen upon the World's Largest Glitterbomb Regatta in 2025 with our own little Thaddeus in tow. "Father?" Thaddeus will ask, his bright, blinking homing bracelet sparkling off his titanium teeth. "May I have the next World's Largest Glitterbomb Regatta for my name-day celebretorithon?" We'll smile and pat his pashmina wig. "No son, your mother spent all our money on her Trout-Eye Smoking Tournament. Get a Kickstarter."
*The Trout-Eye Smoking Authority tells us that the record actually belongs to Eunice Juncle of Portland, ME, who smoked three cartons of Benson & Hedges through a bull trout in 1984. Gothamist regrets the error, as well as spending the better part of an hour sucking the smoke from 200 cigarettes through a tiny hole in a fish's head.
Tagged
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parades
rainbow parade
birthdays
brooklyn
kickstarter
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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