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Save the date for the 8th Annual
Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival
September 29, 2024
What is Wheaton Arts Parade?
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WAP produces the annual Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival
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WAP is an art gallery
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WAP commissions public art & floats
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WAP conducts art workshops and classes
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WAP supports the Yarn Bomb
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WAP produces special events
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WAP is an artists' network
Our Mission is to
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Bring the Wheaton community together with art,
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Showcase local artists,
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Celebrate Wheaton‘s diverse cultures, and
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Help Wheaton realize its potential as an Arts & Entertainment District.
Registration Opens May 1
Last year, more than 500 people walked in the parade to celebrate art and our diverse cultures -- bands like the Marching Titans from Einstein High School, the Maryland Youth Pipe Band, Batalá, an all women Afro-Brazilian drum corps, and Munit and z Lovebugs with Carpe Diem Arts singing and playing their ukuleles -- dance groups large and small including the Wheaton Studio of Dance, the Akhmedova Ballet Academy, Sky's the Limit Dance Company, and the colorful Bolivian/Andean dancers Tinkus Kay'Sur.
There were community groups who made art just for the parade, including dozens of Girl Scouts and Brownies wearing masks of pollenators, the Citizens Climate Lobby carrying art made of recycled and discarded materials, colorHIVE and Friends with their float and masks of Aztec fantasy Alebrijes creatures and the Wheaton High School Art Honor Society students wearing exaggerated head sculptures.
Of course, there were visual artists carrying their paintings and sculptures and arts organizations like Arts on the Block and the Montgomery Art Association, and there were performance artists. There were 20 large sculpted "floats," including many old favorites and three new ones -- "Dot" the Rabbit, the Blackistone Swan and Mr. Nobody.
Photos by James Corbett @epiclifeimages
Click here to purchase images
The parade led us to a festival that continued the celebration of art with performances on three stages and at more than 40 booths where artists exhibited and sold their original work. It was a time to gather in one place and eat together, to listen to music, to watch dance, view paintings and sculpture, to talk to each other and even to make art. Most importantly, it was a time for local artists to be appreciated by the community and for the community to see Wheaton's potential as an arts destination.
Video by Troy Williams
Poster Art Designed by Fernando Santiago
Click on image to learn more.
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