Pull out your calendar and write this down. No questions — just do it. “Victoria Art Car Parade, May 2015. Bring camera.”
Lonnie and Hudson, two of my favorite scooter mates, joined me for the three-hour ride from Austin to the annual Victoria Art Car Parade and Festival. No offense to anyone, but traveling southeast towards the Texas coast totally bores me, so let’s skip the ride and get there already.
There was plenty of room for everyone and their lawn chairs to find a place along the art car parade route. Found a sweet spot and settled in with the sun to our backs.
We were afraid this might turn out to be some dinky small-town parade with a few cars, but that was definitely not the case. I guess there might have been 40 cars, maybe more, maybe less.
“Lady of Transportation” led the parade. I don’t know which I liked better, the car (semi-truck!) or the driver/artist. (You’ll see what I mean when you watch the video.) Artist Amber Eagle says she received her inspiration from the patron saints of Mexico when she created this amazing art car.
Hundreds of hours went into creating the minute details in each work of art.
The parade wound around the town square and past the courthouse, and it was fun to hear the crowd cheering from the next block over. The route ended in a parking lot, where we met some of the artists and admired the art cars up close. Here is Hudson showing some respect.
Clearly, some of the artists have a sense of humor. If you’re prone to creepy-clown nightmares, perhaps you’ll want to overlook the next picture.
I couldn’t begin to fit everything into my Victoria Art Car Parade video, and it only shows a few of these impressive works of art. Be sure to watch it through to the end and feel your jaw drop when you see the last “car” from Mark “Scrapdaddy” Bradford.
We finished our adventure with a late lunch at Pump House Riverside Restaurant. The historic building was interesting and the food was pretty good, but it seemed strangely low key after the art car festivities.
If you dislike crowds and standing in lines, but enjoy small-town entertainment, the Victoria Art Car Parade is exactly the ticket. See you there in May!
Peace on the Road!
BT
P.S. In spite of the long absence, your Auntie Biketrash has definitely not retired from riding. In fact, she is four events behind in her stories and videos, including last month’s week-long trip to Arkansas that does not yet have an ending. Stay tuned, slowly but surely. . . .