The Parade Company is based in Detroit and is responsible for putting on such events as America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and a variety of sports parades that I don’t really pay attention to because I’m a girl who doesn’t care about sports. (Much to my boyfriend’s dismay)
However, I am an artist, and because of the Parade Company and it’s oodles of sponsorships, I had the honor of working on the 2003 Thanksgiving Day Parade.
It was beyond awesome. Not only did I make a lot of wonderful friends, but I got to learn about large-scale fabrication. Many of the tools and tricks still stick with me today. Since The Parade Company uses it’s floats over and over again, each year I look at photos (sometimes the actual parade itself) pointing and beaming with pride, “I helped make that shoe! I built Santa’s window! I painted that chair!”
Some people think that it’s “selling out” to work as a corporate artist, but I wouldn’t trade my experience for the world. The opportunities are out there if you just look for them.
