Everyone is asking what the parade route is! Hopefully this means many spectators but also many participants!
Thanks to the Brunswick Police Department we will have an escort so that we are safe and don’t get lost! The parade will start at the Brunswick Mall (or green), and process down Maine Street towards the river (west, towards Topsham). At Bank Street we will turn right, and then right again onto Federal Street. At School Street we will turn right again and follow back to the Mall! It is short and sweet which is why we have to make it big and colorful. Have you made your costume, mask or puppet yet? See you on May 13th! 4:00 gathering for a 4:30 start of the parade!

The community is invited to join Spindleworks staff and artists in a fun day of creativity on Thursday April 22 in Brunswick. Thanks to the kindness of Maine Street landlord Frank Brockman, we will be using his first floor space at 68 Maine Street to host a puppet making day . Between 10:30am and 1:30pm, everyone is invited to stop by and create. We will have some supplies on hand–cardboard, fabric, yarn, etc, and welcome the addition of anything you think might be crafted into a SPECIES of some sort. Remember, “species” can be plant, mammal, bird, fish—something growing and living! Though imagination is a beautiful thing, lochness monsters, aliens, robots, and Big Foot should stay at home and wait for Halloween!

For some, this will be vacation week, so if you are not working and have children you want to bring, they are most welcome, but need to be supervised. This is an art free for all, without a structured activity, so we encourage folks who want to come to bring an idea, energy and motivation! We will have a couple of large puppets that need to be completed and will welcome additional hands to help out. Additionally we will have paper plates on hand for those who might want to make a quick mask. So if you have been meaning to create that whale puppet or costume, but your kitchen is just not big enough to do the creating in, please come join us at this wonderful community space and share in the excitement of the upcoming parade!

Our All Species Parade in May, in keeping with tradition, will be a celebration of any kind of species. The term “species” refers to the smallest unit of classification for animals and plants.Therefore, we are talking about REAL living things, from the beautiful planet earth. As real as the Lochness Monster, Bigfoot, and green martians may seem in our culture, these imaginative creatures must stay at home the day of the parade. The All Species Parade is a chance for us to show respect for, and honor the interconnectedness and harmony of the natural world.Through the parade we hope the broader community will reflect on, and deepen their own relationships with the Earth and all her precious species, further learning through artful participation how to be good stewards towards each other and the environment. There are so many wonderful, REAL LIVE beings on this earth, and we want to celebrate them all! Why not wear green, tell your friends to do the same and together, be a lawn! Something that simple brings our attention to the details of the world around us.

It’s time to spread the word about the All Speices Parade! If you have not been to a Pecha Kucha night, you are missing out on a fantastic taste of arts and culture in Maine. Monday, February 22nd, at 6pm, Pecha Kucha comes to Frontier Café in Brunswick.

This past fall, Spindleworks applied for a grant from the Maine Arts Commission to help promote the first ever All Species Parade in Brunswick set for May of 2010. Throughout the school year, artists and staff from Spindleworks are working with second graders in Brunswick to create giant bird puppets which will be the backbone of the parade. But since the beginning, the concept has been for a community-wide parade, to include people from all walks of life. The GIG grant has made it possible to construct this website to keep the community informed, and engaged right up until the parade. Please check back often for more news, inspiration and details about the day.