White Lady Eowyn writes: Here is a report for you, as I promised MrCere, about the Second Annual DragonCon parade!
Saturday morning dawned in Atlanta with bright and beautiful skies. But it was also unbelievably hot for so early in the day. Thank heavens that there were volunteers on hand to give out water and ice to all the parade participants.
This year’s parade, unlike the first one last year, was controlled by the fact that they really wanted you to be pre-registered to be in the festivities, due to the burgeoning interest. The Atlanta Police Department was kind enough to close off the streets from a mile down the Hyatt and all along the parade route.
And there were a ton of spectators! The crowds only grew as we drew closer and closer to the host hotels. The lady who was leading our group of Lord of the Rings fans made a banner that said, “One Parade to Rule Them All,” etc. Apologies to her, but I do not remember the rest of the banner. The weekend is blurring somewhat due to staying up too late and getting up too early, but all the fun was worth it.
We had myself, representing Eowyn, an Uruk-Hai (complete with White Hand over the face, this is the lady that headed our group and she won a spot during the Evening at Bree costume contest), a Merry, a Gondorian Ranger, Gandalf, some Elves, and a Balrog! The Balrog costume was completely hand made by the woman wearing it, and the wings were pneumatically controlled so she could spread them with the touch of a button! This, by far, elicited the biggest responses from the crowds lining Peachtree Street.
At several points in the parade, we sang the Hobbit Drinking Song (“Hey, ho, to the bottle I go,” , etc.). Unsure of the crowd’s reaction to this, but we sure had fun doing it!
Sincerely, White Lady Eowyn, from the TORN Message Board
