The Eagle Tree

by Ned Hayes

Every year, on the Saturday closest to Earth Day in April, there is a parade in Olympia called the Procession of the Species. People dress up as animals and plants and pretend to be other parts of the ecosystem. For example, there is an ocean part of the parade, and everyone in that part is dressed as a fish or an ocean mammal. People pretending to be jellyfish hold big decorated umbrellas with brightly colored streamers all around them, like jellyfish tentacles. One year, someone made a whale that was of accurate dimensions—the whale filled up the whole street. This parade is distinct from other parades. There are no signs and no writing and no cars and no floats, nothing that represents human civilizations or culture. It is a parade of only handmade costumes and handmade rolling things, and everything in the parade is dressed up like an animal or a plant. The whole idea started in Olympia, for Earth Day, and now there are parades like this, for all the species, in many cities all around the world. But it began in Olympia.