This page represents information from the June 2024 Handmade Parade. Handmade Parade is a biannual event. The next parade is scheduled for 2026. You can expect early parade information in 2025.
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Saturday, June 1, 2024!
2024 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
*REGISTRATION RETURNS 2026!
Please register whether you plan to WATCH the parade or WALK WITH US. This 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-$10 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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To stay looped in on ongoing updates, subscribe to the HAC E-Newsletter or follow us on socials.
Q & A
Click the puppets below to learn more!
Photos, Videos, & More
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2024 Artist Announcements, FYIs, & Logistics!
End-of-Parade
Jamboree in River Park!
Both before and after the Handmade Parade, we encourage you to enjoy the Handmade Market!
Bring a blanket, grab a meal, 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 River Park, joining with the Handmade Market, for an end-of-parade jamboree, "puppet petting zoo", and opportunities to meet the artists!
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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This is an apolitical event. Please no organizing or promotion of political candidates, affiliates, or organizations.
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No 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.