Wheel good time is theme of day. Creativity is what drives the Greenway Parade of Arts.

Its destination: Fun

Sherri Cruz; Staff Writer
5 July 2001
Star-Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities Mpls.-St. Paul
METRO
01B

The world rolled by. The world's id, that is. No room for superegos at Wednesday's Greenway Parade
of Arts in Minneapolis, where the theme was wheels and art.

Getting ready for their debut in the seventh Wheels as Art parade, Emma Ramstad, Josie Winship and
Molly Van Avery were putting the finishing touches on their bicycles while Bryan Nelson was sliding
into his in-line skates. Nelson, the only one in the bunch who wasn't an artist - he's a technology
consultant - was decked out in duct tape and CDs.

Why?

"This is Minnesota: duct tape," he deadpanned.

Van Avery was screwing bottles into the caps glued upside down on her bike.

Ramstad, looking from head to toe like a plant, wore a hat covered in vegetation with orange flamingos
sticking out of it. And Winship, well, she looked like shredded newspaper.

The three women urged Nelson to hurry, and off they went to join the lineup.

The Wheels as Art parade, which began at Lake St. and Lyndale Av., featured 40 cars from across the
country - and bicycles of all sorts.

"We're going right from here into the 'hood," announced the brash Miss Richfield - that's Miss
Richfield 1981 - sitting in a lawn chair atop a van.

The drag queen, dressed in 6-inch white platforms and a red, white and blue mini, kicked off the parade
with a smile that could have cast a shadow on Julia Roberts' toothy grin.

Then out rolled Ramstad, Winship, Van Avery and Nelson, hooting and hollering as the crowd cheered
back.

Next came the cars. Some were brilliantly decorated, some were temporarily adorned and others looked
like they used a designer who inspired hotels in Las Vegas.

"Roadkill" had white outlines of dead animals drawn on it as well as attached dead creatures - not real
ones - with their feet sticking up in the air. Crows, too.

A car covered in bones - real ones - rolled by, followed by the "Miss Vicki" tulip-themed car.

The 1965 Dodge Dart was designed for none other than Tiny "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" Tim, said
owner Dean Pauley. The retired iron worker made the car for Tiny's appearance as grand marshal at the
1995 Soulard Mardi Gras Parade in St. Louis.

Pauley travels the country for these art car parades. (Yes, there are others.)

"Some of the parades get pretty cut-throat," he said. "Anytime you get money involved, it always hurts
somebody, and you never make anyone happy."

But in this parade, everyone wins, he said. No cash prizes are awarded.

B.J. Zander, a "daily driver," which in art car jargon means she drives her car daily, entered her
"Mercedes Bones." It's actually a Volvo. "But I always wanted a Mercedes," she said.

The car has assorted bones - no human ones (she always gets asked that question) - glued on with
silicon caulk. On the roof is what the Twin Cities looks like in bone, with the boney Mississippi River
flowing between calcium enriched St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Jessie Loving Carr (that's her real name) drove her pink "Miss Priss" convertible Cabriolet in the
parade with a bunch of her friends. The Macalester student decided to mock other parades and their
pretty princesses waving to the crowds.

When the parade ended at 5th Avenue, everyone headed toward the Midtown Greenway, a walking and
bike path along the 29th Street rail corridor in south Minneapolis that ultimately will connect the Chain
of Lakes with the Mississippi River.. As they wandered, they could listen to music and pick up
information from social-advocacy groups.

The purpose of the Greenway event, put on by Intermedia Arts and the Midtown Community Works,
was to draw attention to the Midtown Greenway, said Brooke Darst Rice, Intermedia's marketing and
public relations manager.

Besides being unusual, the Greenway Parade of Arts was different because - are you ready? - nothing
was being sold. No blow-up green aliens, no silver jewelry, no foot-long hot dogs. Nada.

OK, there was one lemonade/ice cream stand, which had long lines. And there were two
entrepreneurial neighborhood girls selling Kool- Aid.

Daysha Flemino, 11, and Dansey Conde Omana, 7, saw on the news Tuesday night that there were
going to be lots of people.

"We were thinking we could make some money," Flemino said. A half- hour into the event, the duo
had already sold six cups at 25 cents a pop.

"Red or green?" Flemino asked a customer.

Down the way, Sarah Billings, Steph McCarthy and Lauren Hancock were sitting on the pavement
drawing multicolored fish with chalk on a ground mural, which already had an aquarium theme.

"This is the best part," Billings said.

Meanwhile, the enchanting Miss Richfield 1981 was posing for photos, regular folks were decorating
their bikes with ribbons and trinkets supplied by the organizers, and Emma scooted by on her bike, still
happily wearing her plant outfit.

It was a day to be playful and creative - a day to be a kid again (or at least your alter ego).