✈Worldwide Wednesdays: The Houston Art Car Parade, USA

Where shall we travel to today?....

The Houston Art Car Parade, USA

"The things people do to their cars" I would always say when driving around town.  They'd make their vehicles look really high that you need a ladder just to get into them, or really low that you'd be paranoid to go over a bump.  Or the cars that add neon lights underneath them so it looks like the car is glowing underneath.  Little did I know that was NOTHING compared to the cars that are seen annually at The Houston Art Car Parade in Houston, Texas.  There were all makes and models involved but I'm a HUGE fan of American cars  - both the classics and the new, so to see them 'decorated' in this way kind of made me cringe a bit, to say the least, so I had to keep in mind it was 'ART' and try to appreciate it for what it is. 

I mean, these works of art are so creative the 'sky is the limit' as to what you can create and use.  Some of the vehicles I couldn't even recognize because they were so well decorated! 

The Houston Art Car Parade was born on April, 1988 with a 40 car parade seen by an estimated 2,000. By the following year, the parade size doubled and the crowd swelled to tens of thousands.

Today, the Art Car Parade is the highlight of a three-day celebration of the drive to create, Art Car Weekend.

• The parade attracts 250+ vehicles and other entries from 23 states along with Canada and Mexico
• A live audience of some 250,000
• Parade entries include anything on wheels from
• unicycles to
• lawnmowers to
• cars and go-carts
• Entries are as likely to be made by members of the general public as by recognized artists.

Community groups, public and private schools, and professional organizations have become regular participants. Inspired by what they see, spectators create art cars of their own and often become future participants. And as the parade grows, attracting more and more participants, the complexity and quality of the entries increases.

Let's GET ON with the PHOTOs!!

Resource:  orangeshow.org/art-car/

All photos courtesy of Ed Schipul