Million Puppet March

Didn’t see a million, but in fairness they don’t count that high on Sesame Street…all photos by author.

File this in the category of “things I never thought I’d see, much less see on Capitol Hill.”  Saturday morning hundreds of professional and amateur puppeteers gathered in Lincoln Park for the start of the “Million Puppet March.”  Originally organized as a protest against a certain presidential candidate’s stance on funding public television (and one very large and prominent flightless yellow bird being central to the controversy), the organizers of the event were not employed or hired by PBS.  Marchers included professional puppeteers, hobbyists, folks in Sesame Street character costumes, and families who either support public broadcasting or simply saw the march as inexpensive family entertainment.  The staging area in Lincoln Park felt half like a rally and half like a reunion.  People meeting puppets meeting puppets meeting people.  Everyone came with one agenda and perhaps two personalities.

After the jump, more images of Puppet-Palooza.