Coming efforts between May's Last Friday & the Art Walk, Handmade Market (Previously Art in the Heart), and the legendary Handmade Parade, for a destination Weekend of Art in Hillsborough, NC!
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Parade Inspiration:
Sonder:
n. the sudden realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own - with their own ambitions, routines, love stories, worries, and pain - an epic story that continues invisibly around you, in which you might appear only once, in the background of a coffee shop, in a car passing on the highway, or, in moments like this - dancing in the streets of Hillsborough, NC, in the Handmade Parade.
Walk With Us!
Whether you craft a puppet or help us carry one of ours', we need your help to pull off this parade. Join us at Staging and be a part of the show!
Check "Walking" during registration!
Parade Registration
*PLEASE REGISTER TO WALK OR WATCH!
Registration supports future access to arts programming in Hillsborough, NC, and helps us collect important information for safety, crowd management, & grant reporting purposes.
Registering for this event allows you to write in a donation amount. This event is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5.00 per person.
We strive to ensure HAC events remain accessible to everyone, but the Hillsborough Arts Council incurs substantial costs curating experiences like Handmade Parade for our community. For this reason, we ask that those who can afford to do so make a donation. Donations are nonrefundable.
We appreciate your support of community traditions like this one!
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Q & A
Click the puppets below to learn more!
Community Workshops!
End-of-Parade
Jamboree in River Park!
Both before and after the Handmade Parade, we encourage you to enjoy Last Friday & the Art Walk and the Handmade Market!
Bring a blanket, grab a meal, enjoy live music, peruse artists' work, and relish a beautiful weekend in downtown, historic Hillsborough.
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Handmade Parade will end around 5 PM back in the park, joining with the Handmade Market, for an end-of-parade jamboree, including an opportunity to meet the parade puppets & performers!
Community Guidelines
This parade is about the love of art and one another!
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Please be kind and keep your costumes respectful to all.
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Please no passing out flyers along the parade route, throwing merch, candy, or distributing goods of any kind. Carrying banners or otherwise representing your group/organization in your puppets/costumes is permitted.
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Well behaved pets permitted, at owners liability, especially if in costume. Pets are also welcome in River Park during the Handmade Market!
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No politics, hate speech, violence, or disorderly conduct of any kind. Anyone exhibiting this behavior will be asked to leave.
Additional support for this program is generously provided by the Town of Hillsborough, the Orange County Arts Commission, and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.