The 40th annual Wake Up The Earth Parade begins.
Sarah Kanouse and Genesee
Brown (8).
Participants of buildOn, a non-profit organization dedicated to
encouraging urban high school students to become civically
active, Rayonna Williams (16) Jonathan Cruz (17) and Tayla
Erianna (17).
Rosalba Solis, with whistle,
keeps the festive spirit alive.
Paul Gregory and Joanna
Voueiotis of the Second Line
Social Aid And Pleasure
Society Brass Band.
Paige Haringa provides her son, Jonah (3), transport in the
parade.
Robin Edwards, teacher at the Hallow Reed School in JP,
blows bubbles to the delight of many.
J and Ellis (2) Carroll rode
their tandem bike to see the
parade off from the Curtis Hall
Municipal building.
Marieke Rosenbaum, with
Spontaneous Celebrations,
gets herself ready on her
stilts. Her Mom is Femke,
who founded the Wake Up
The Earth Parade 40 years
ago.
The start of May saw the 40th annual Wake Up The Earth Parade
and Festival in Jamaica Plain, organized by Spontaneous Celebrations.
The event began in 1979 and celebrates the defeat of the proposed
I-95 extension, which began razing neighborhoods and threatened to
level many more. Participants from across Jamaica Plain and beyond
came together to march with a message of community.
Photos by Derek Kouyoumjian