SUPERFREAK . . .

This weekend's Ithaca Festival (an annual occurrence) kicked off with a huge parade. We had heard the parade was very entertaining, and it definitely met expectations. I'm so glad to finally be able to show our friends outside of Ithaca a few of what Jake and I call "True Ithacans".

These are not the true Ithacans, just our kids. Anxiously waiting for the parade to begin.
This is La Leche League. For those who aren't familiar with them, they promote breastfeeding. Hence the slogans "Free Range Milk" and "Nature's Finest on Tap". Oh, and the giant breastfeeding doll.

True Ithacans are completely into anything and everything natural and organic, and especially vegan or vegetarian.

Even the Fingerlakes Cycling Company managed to put their freak on.

Of course composting here is huge. There are a multitude of community services encouraging and teaching the eager Ithacan how to compost just about everything imaginable.

These interesting Ithacans are advertising "Green" transportation. Luckily, I think you can still use green transportation without dressing like this.

These are Jake's newest clients, the Rollerderby league. I'm not joking. He'll provide medical coverage for their . . um . . games? meets? events? competitions? (I'm not sure what it's called when you dress strangely and race around on skates trying to plaster your competitors . . . ) starting this summer.

I don't even remember who this guy was with. I affectionately call him the bag man. In case you can't tell, he's covered in plastic grocery bags. A creative way to recycle?? James was very concerned that he was going to suffocate. I guess it's good to know my warnings about not putting plastic bags on your head actually got through.

Not quite sure what this group was promoting, but it seems to be the spirit of the "True Ithacan".

One of the "Scooter Commuters". Hopefully he doesn't actually wear this mask while commuting. If I pulled up beside him and he looked at me like this I might have a stroke while driving and that might be bad.

Some oil companies have been investigating some shale drilling opportunities in the area. I guess the drilling process is called "Fracking" (short for fracturing I think). I might be more on board with their cause if, well, they didn't look so strange.

Couldn't really tell who this guy was with, either. But he was really enjoying strutting around like a peacock (check out the stance). Male ego or flamer? You decide.

These came near the end of the parade and were almost the strangest of all. Ballerina look-alikes (I say look-alikes because they had no actual dancing skill) dancing with their partners, see below.

The human ballerinas were dancing with Volvos dressed as ballerinas (of all cars, why choose the Volvo I wonder?). Quite the show.

And to round it out, the chainsaw band (with their backup chorus, the kids on the truck). I don't actually know if they can legitimately be called a band because there was no actual music. Just a lot of banging (kids) and chainsaw revving (adults). Maybe it would sound like music to someone.

I hope this little demonstration of the "Truly Ithacan" won't frighten any of you from coming to visit. Just remember this is a very concentrated dose, whereas when you live in or visit Ithaca, you see this in smaller moments.

Hope you've enjoyed the show.