I went to Ann Arbor’s second annual Festifools puppet street festival today. It was interesting. There was a giant puppet Jesus with a Nike sweatband drinking coffee from Starbucks cup. At least that’s what I think it was. And there was a person dressed like a giant silver spatula. And my favorite was this big stuffed cat with a swollen pink rectum that shot out stuffed brown turds. I didn’t get footage of the turds being launched, or of his little mouse helper stuffing them back in, but I did get some film of that cat. You can see it below, in the clip I just sent off to YouTube.

The event was really good. There must have been about 2,500 people lined up along Main Street, watching, cheering and snapping photos. And the puppets were impressive. There was tons of energy. It was exciting to see. If I had to say something bad about it – like if someone held a gun to my head and made me - I’d say some of the stuff came across as a bit too hippyish and new age for me. And at least once I felt a dreaded “Renaissance Fair chill” going up and down my spine. Maybe it was all the people in jester hats beating on drums. But, be that as it may, it was still a great event. Every community, I think, should have its own loud, crazy Pagan festival to welcome the spring.

Over the years, I’ve had lots of conversations with friends about doing some kind large-scale public arts event here in Ypsilanti. We’ve talked about models like Baltimore’s Kinetic Sculpture Race and the parades that happen in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. There are lots of interesting things we could do as a community, but the question is how to do something uniquely Ypsilanti.

In the case of the Festifools event in Ann Arbor, it looks as though UM’s Mark Tucker, who teaches art through the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program, was the guy who got it going. I’m not suggesting that we copy Ann Arbor and do the same kind of thing here, but maybe it’s worth talking to the art faculty at EMU to see if they have any ideas. As in the case of Festifools, it seems as though you need someone driving it with access to workspace, vats of papier-mâché, and the other resources of a university. At the very least, I think that we should plan on entering an Ypsilanti puppet in next year’s event. I know some of you are sick of our phallic old Water Tower, but what about a 12 foot tall tower that says, “Ypsi’s just glad to see you”? I’m sure we can come up with something better, but that’s the best I can come up with now.

update: I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’ve just been informed by Andy C that the pooping cat was the work of Ypsi’s own Dirty Brothers. Here’s video of the cat in action.