1. Seen on the way to the staging area: A child swinging an inflatable Spider-Man hammer (a superhero merchandising tie-in that makes less and less sense the more you think about it).
2. Meet the lucky kids bringing up the absolute rear end of the parade: the
Tualatin High Marching Band! 3. A member of the
Falun Gong marching group somehow finds peace amid a half-dozen warming-up brass sections.
4. Pirate re-enactors with the
Brotherhood of Oceanic Mercenaries (B.O.O.M.) growl "Arr!" as a group of Civil-War re-enactors walk by. Coincidence?
5. Who's "alternative" now? Can you tell who's in the hipster-packed
March Fourth Marching Band and who's promoting the
OSU Extension Service's relatively square
"Master Gardener" program?
6. Peace between the States: Re-enactor Abe Lincoln (
Alan Edwards) checks out a Confederate chaplain's (
Erik Wood's) blade. Meanwhile,
Lake Oswego cheerleaders are intrigued by Union guns!
7. A civilian shooting hoops
totally bricks it in front of the entire Lake O marching band. Howls ensue.
8. Washington County Fair & Rodeo employee
Brian Love and his son
Jason. "We follow the [Rodeo] Queen around and clean up after her horse," Brian (sort of) jokes.
9. Members of the
"Timbers Army" fan group play soccer with a rainbow-colored ball. One Army member promises they'll only do their "G-rated" Portland Timbers fight cheers during the parade: "Well, maybe PG; you might be able to conceive a child to one of them."
10. (l-r) Oregon Zoo Guide volunteers
Eva Brown and
Bob Granquist and their animal puppets. (Eva calls her sloth
"Frankie Blue Eyes.")
11. Seen on the walk back to the car: a man and his dog strolling down the middle of utterly empty, cordoned-off Broadway.
You can download a
high-rez PDF of CulturePulp 30 right here:
CulturePulp30.pdf 
