GET A MOVE ON

Papio Kinetic Sculpture & Bike Parade rolls on Earth Day

Mark Hedden has been photographing birds and other wildlife, including the human kind during Key West’s Fantasy Fest, for decades. MARK HEDDEN/Keys Weekly

The family-friendly

Kinetic

&

Parade returns this Earth Day, April visit papiokineticparade.com KEY WEST ART & HISTORICAL SOCIETY/Contributed

The annual Papio Kinetic Sculpture and Art Bike Parade — a family-friendly, art-inspired, human-powered mobile sculpture and art-bike parade that celebrates creativity and innovation using recycled materials — is set to roll down Duval Street on Saturday, April 22, which happens to be Earth Day. Mobile sculptures and art bikes will launch at noon from the Key West Museum of Art & History and travel the full length of Duval Street to the Southernmost Pocket Park, where a block party and awards ceremony will take place from 1 to 3 p.m.

The parade celebrates imagination and encourages the use of reused materials, while honoring Stanley Papio, a Florida Keys pioneering folk artist whose recycled metal sculptures teem with a clever sense of satire, tenacity and innovation. The country’s first kinetic sculpture race rolled out in Ferndale, California in 1969, igniting a craze that later grew to include national race events in Philadelphia, Baltimore and elsewhere. Since then, other communities, including Key West, have hosted kinetic events, offering their own variation of these floats-with-moving-parts parades.

When kicking off its own parade in 2016, the Key West Art & Historical Society took the region’s laid-back attitude and eco-friendliness into account, eliminating the “race” component and adding the element of “art bikes” for the town known for its pedaling revelers.

Arising from a long-percolating idea, the project won the support of a prestigious Knight Arts Challenge grant that rewards the best and most innovative ideas in the arts, along with additional support from the Helmerich Trust, the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.

In years past, Papio Parade spectators have been treated to the sight of inspired, entirely human-powered works of art, including a supersized narwhal that winked at onlookers, a pelican whose wings flapped as it towed parasailing minnows, an eagle ray powered by three bicycling men dressed as remoras, a race car with an engine made of discarded plumbing parts, and a 30-foot-long iguana fashioned from scrap cardboard spines. With 2023 creations underway by several “Papio Ambassador” artist teams and several school registrants supported by scholarships, this year’s parade promises to offer another visual feast for the eyes.

Add to the kinetic fun by registering your own kinetic sculpture float or art bike and joining the parade. You can also support the parade and its participants by becoming a “Papio Pal.” Each year, the society raises muchneeded funds to offer scholarships to local schools and artists to help propel select participants forward as they make their own floats and art bikes for the Papio Kinetic Parade, focusing on the elements of recycling and teambuilding.

More information is at papiokineticparade.com.

— Contributed