Hark, Hark,
The dogs do bark,
The Doo Dah is coming to town!
Some in tags,
Some in rags,
And one in a velvet gown.
It’s on. Or more accurately, it’s off, as in off-center, off-base, off-kilter, sometimes a bit off-color, and way, way out there somewhere past Alpha Centauri — take a left at Zzyzx.
We’re talking about Pasadena’s freshest, fruitiest, juiciest, most colorful, authentic, original confection, second only to the outrageous jams, jellies and preserves created for more than a century in Sierra Madre by E. Waldo Ward & Son.
We’re talking about the 45th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade.
Affectionately known as the twisted sister of the Rose Parade, the event will once again hit the streets of Old Pasadena on the morning of Sunday, November 24th. This year’s event is co-produced by the nonprofit Light Bringer Project (@lightbringerproject) and the Doo Dah Preservation Society.
Imagine “The Gong Show” on Mars by way of Gilligan’s Island with Monty Python outtakes, or a Technicolor tribe of absurdist astro-traveling Fellini extras ejected from the casting call because they were just a little too weird even for il Maestro Federico.
It’s outsider art as a moveable beast, and feast.
The Pasadena Doo Dah Parade first laced up its sequined bustier and combat boots in 1978 as a raucous parody of the annual Rose Parade and Queen’s Court. Since then, celebs including the late Richard Simmons, Dr. Demento, Culture Clash and Fred Willard presided over the shenanigans in years past. Who knows who’ll show up this year?
Last weekend, singer-songwriter and ukulele-unicorn extraordinaire Sparrow Dena was crowned this year’s Doo Dah Parade Queen after performing a rendition of their original composition “infinite smoking.” A musician since age 2, they play guitar and piano as well as uke.
We caught up with Sparrow, no known relation to Piaf, a couple of nights ago, who said “I can’t really define my musical genre, except to say that it’s honest.”
Sparrow, who has lived in Pasadena for a decade, vied for the coveted Parade Queen Crown three times in the past. This year’s flamboyantly fab crown was hand-crafted by Doo Dah Preservation Society’s co-founder Veronica Andrade, presented to Sparrow by Natalie Flores, Queen Mama Sunshine of the 2023 Doo Dah Parade.
They continue, “Third time’s a charm! Doo Dah is important because art is a way for people to feel less alone. And art, meaning songwriting and also making visual art, was my therapy, before I had therapy.”
She adds that she loves the greater Los Angeles area “…because it’s becoming more and more of a great parade town! And Doo Dah is so joyful.”
While a student at Pasadena City College, Sparrow launched a radio show called “Sparrow’s Song.” Today, they contribute poetry to a Los Angeles-based writing group called Zzyzx, also the name of a natural oasis, mineral spring, and frankly crackpot former health spa and resort selling “Hollywood Pep Cocktail” that had once been part of massive Lake Mojave, just west of what is now Baker, CA off the I-15.
The particular crackpot in question, Curtis Howe Springer, invented the name for his unincorporated town in 1944, claiming it to be the last word in the English language. As the last word in a crackpot venture, Springer certainly would have delighted in the Doo Dah gestalt.
Perhaps weirdly, and fittingly, Zzyzx, the desert place, is now a refuge habitat for an endangered fish, the Mohave Tui Chub. In a similar way, the Doo Dah Parade, no longer classified as annual since missing a couple of years during COVID, offers shelter for the rarer, stranger aspects of identity and self-expression.
For the many fashionistx who have praised their glamorous zebra-print “jumpsuit” worn at the try-outs, Sparrow laughs “It’s not really a jumpsuit, it’s a tank and leggings!” They will be joined in this year’s Royal Court by Royal “Night” Rome Romann, and Royal Light Helen Roper.
This year’s Parade participants will also include Pasadena’s favorite Petty-esque, rockin’ musical couple The NextDoors, The Church of the SubGenius, THE EYE, and all other manner of merry pranksters.
Natalie Lydick, who manages Project Development for Light Bringer Project, comments that the Doo Dah experience is more merely inane than truly insane. “Some people seem to be under the impression that silliness is unimportant, but I’m of the belief that humor summons some of our deepest-held values. Doo Dah is a point of catharsis for so many. We let out more than laughter, we unveil a hidden piece of ourselves that never stuck to the status quo.”
If you’ve got the hankering to release your inner Doo Dah and join the legion of giggly, wriggly, wiggly, jiggly mermaids on escapades, Lizard Kings with angel wings, and scores of others on stilts, in kilts, wearing feathers, tethers and leathers, in cahoots with kinky boots, marooned, festooned, pearl-stranded, branded, befooled and bejeweled, the topical and merely tropical, the flashy, the splashy, the trashy, the new-fangled, spangled, tingly-jingly-jangled, the speed-dating, roller-skating, tight-fitting, and wildly switch-hitting, there is still time to join the spectacle.
Online entries will be accepted through Thursday, November 21st, until the end of the monkey-business day. And, for Ye Most Free of the Free Spirits, you’re even welcome to land your flying saucer in nearby Memorial Park and scurry over to sign up on the day of the parade.
Lydick adds: “Our rule of thumb is to accept all. It can be tricky because since this is a satirical parade, naturally people will have things to say with which we don’t agree. Sometimes we need to set our personal opinions aside. What we cannot and will not tolerate is hatred or danger. We refuse to put the public at risk for a laugh, so if someone is doing something unsafe, that is a no, and we would never consider accepting someone who wanted to spread a hateful message. It’s just not our bag. Satire is meant to be playful — it can be cutting, but it can’t make anyone feel unwelcome. If it’s safe and all-inclusive, then we’ll be inclined to accept. And of course we work with all of our entries on their acts, so if anyone has questions, they are welcome to just ask!”
DEETS
- The 45th Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade
- Sunday, November 24
- Kick-off: 11:00 AM, Old Pasadena
- Click here for online entry form — deadline EOD Thursday, November 21st
- To sign up on the day of the event, go to check-in tent, Memorial Park, 85 East Holly Street
- Google map: bit.ly/4hv93VN
- All marching bands and art cars enter for free!
- Phone: 626-228-4220
