A run-up to any election year involves polls and focus groups and testings and trials of all sorts, and we become accustomed to many an idea going through a thorough vetting before it is put out their for public consumption.
The Occasion Doo Dah Parade is the exact opposite of all of that. There's zero process, in fact, at the annual-ish alt-everything parade, a Pasadena fixture for 38 or so years, kind of, give or take. Our soft-peddling there reflects that sometimes, in the past, the parade has skipped around, date-wise, which reflects its incredibly serious mission of not really doing anything anyone expects while having a super time not doing it.
That's a mouthful, so let us let a long time parade motto explain better: "Remember the rules: Doo Dah Rules!"
Yep, there are no rules to this wacky and weird procession, which began, lo these many years ago, as an answer to the stately and tradition-filled Rose Parade, which, you may have heard, is also something of a Pasadena staple.
The Doo Dah again marches, merrily and with much mischief, on Sunday, Nov. 22 down Colorado Boulevard in East Pasadena. Again, you're bound to see motorized couches, disco space aliens, barbecue grills on wheels, giant bunnies wielding chainsaws, and the Doo Dah Queen herself, the punktastic Ms. Veronika MeowMeowz.
If you've been to the Doo Dah before you know the start time is iffy -- it is always 11 or so, emphasis on the "or so" part, and that objects, many of them ostensibly edible, are frequently launched into the air above the crowd (foil-wrapped hot dogs have been seen taking flight in past years).
But know this: While the Doo Dah doesn't like to lay down a heap o' rules, there shall be no launching of marshmallows at the 2015 celebration. They get sticky and icky on warm pavement, so best save your bag for your holiday cocoa, if you're marching.
The Scene
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You can still enter, by the way, if you've been wanting to wear your new tutu and old roller skates somewhere. It's ten bucks to join, like it has been forever, and you don't really need a theme, just a dream and a vigorous wave, because lots of people in the crowd will wave at you.
Tutu on and skates tied? Best wobble your way to East Pas, stat.
