Come to Lopez Procession of the Species

Saturday, April 18 at 3 p.m.

— from Lopez Island Conservation Corps —

Procession of the Animals, Lopez Island 2014

The first Procession kicked off 20 years ago in Olympia to celebrate Earth Day’s 25th anniversary, and to support Congressional renewal of the Endangered Species Act. Among its founding tenets is the goal to “empower our role in global preservation by discovering,recognizing, and understanding our local connection to the world around us.”

Grown to include nearly 3,000 participants and over 35,000 spectators, Olympia’s Procession features art workshops and group dance practice months in advance. Having seen the Olympia Procession, Charlie Behnke introduced the idea to Lopez in 2011 when the Lopez Island Prevention Coalition asked the LICC tout on an Earth Day event. The Prevention Coalition has been a generous sponsor ever since. The Conservation Corp’s Amanda Wedow, one of the original organizers, says “The Procession of the Species is a celebration of life. It is an opportunity to connect with nature in a fun and creative way. While making art that represents a species, we think about how that animal or plant interacts with the world, and this allows for a greater understanding and appreciation of all life forms.”

Lopez’s Procession, on an appropriately small scale compared to Olympia’s, is nonetheless growing rapidly. Come to the Lopez Community Center on Saturday, April 18. The procession will begin at 3 p.m.

Organizers emphasize the importance of music and rhythm in the Procession,so participants are urged to bring traveling instruments (i.e. drums or shakers) to play while parading. Don’t have time to make a costume? There are always plenty of extra costume bits tograb and borrow. Feel more like cheering than parading? Spectators are just a different kind of participant, so by all means, come and watch; bring friends and make new ones.