Downtown
Houston, Texas 77002

On May 9 at 1 p.m., downtown Houston will come to life as more than 250 vibrant and imaginative Art Cars begin rolling through the city streets for the 22nd annual Houston Art Car Parade.

Artists from across the United States will make their yearly pilgrimage to Houston to participate in the Parade, showing off their mobile masterpieces that leave on-lookers astonished. These wheeled wonders will be coming from places such as Sacramento, Calif., Lake Worth, Florida, and even internationally with one Art Car artist coming from the Netherlands.

Art Cars are regular everyday automobiles that have been transformed by artists into one-of-a-kind creations meant to amuse, inspire, enlighten and entertain.

Each year, the artists are tasked with creating breathtaking Art Cars that promise to astound spectators. This year is no exception as Art Cars artists have once again out done themselves. Prepare yourself for a slithering copperhead snake on wheels, a 21-foot silver jet and the "fastest" chicken in the world - a 12-foot tall motorized chicken. And make sure you don't miss the "Crapper Car" - a mobile port-a-potty that will be driving at 4 mph all the way from Waco, Texas! The Houston Art Car Parade features creations from the absurd to the sublime and everything in between.

Houston's largest free public art event, The Art Car Parade is produced by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, an organization that preserves and promotes visionary art environments and provides opportunities to discover and celebrate the artist in everyone.

Official Website: http://www.orangeshow.org

Added by TexasMagazine on April 18, 2009

Comments

dawnpiercy

One of the members of the group C.R.A.S.S. spewed the foulest profanities towards the crowd while skating down Allen Parkway during the parade. Destinee Moore a member of the group C.R.A.S.S. had an outburst and cursed loudly towards the crowd and directly at my children. At least six other families with children who were subject to her most vile behavior Saturday said that they were also offended. Her behavior was offensive. No one said anything to this woman. She just started spewing profanity while skating down the road while tethered to the C.R.A.S.S. float, wearing a C.R.A.S.S shirt. I really thought this was supposed to be a good natured family event, not a venue for its participants to spout vulgar words at a crowd filled with children. Several little girls thought she was talking to them screaming things like, "(Profanity...) get out of here, you're not welcome at this parade". She made small children cry intentionally, it was cruel, unnecessary and shocking. What an awful representation of the Orange Show and other good people involved. I have attended the parade for 17 years and to have this type of behavior scar innocent children who were there with their families is a shame. If this is a representation of the direction the art car parade is going, what a huge disappointment it would be to the other decent people who are involved and attend the event each year.

dawnpiercy

The staff of the Orange Show has assured me that they have taken steps to ensure that the inappropriate outburst that happened at the 2009 Art Car Parade will not ever happen again. Thanks so much to the Orange Show for ensuring that future admirers of the Art Car Parade don’t have to deal with nonsense and can just enjoy a wonderful parade.

nikki42

The comments made by dawnpiercy are defamatory and false. Orange Show has been contacted regarding these accusations. Please remove these comments as they are a direct personal attack and use a person's full name. The Houston Press and Houston Chronicle have both been kind enough to remove the spammed comment from their pages and removed DM's name from their websites. Thank you for your cooperation.