Parade Lively Despite Ban On Candy, Fire and Beer

More than 25,000 people attended the 12th annual “How Berkeley Can You Be” parade and festival, which was held Sunday in the midst of controversy over restrictions on the event.

The event was organized by artists’ collective Epic Arts, the city of Berkeley and the Ecology Center, a conservation group, to display “what Berkeley is and what it can be,” said Epic Arts Executive Director Ashley Berkowitz.

Highlights included participants in bunny suits toting signs that proclaimed “Down with humanity, hop with bunnies,” a robotic Arnold Schwarzenegger and a group of scantily clad, hula-hooping pirates.

But some participants said three traditional features were conspicuously missing from the parade: beer, candy and fire-spewing cars.

One group of parade participants was so irate about what they called the city’s ban on beer, candy and fire that they wheeled an empty beer cart down the parade route and sang the chorus to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Julie Sinai, senior aide to Mayor Tom Bates, said that beer has always been illegal at the parade, candy has caused problems before and fire-spewing cars are clearly dangerous.

Manuel Hector, a member of the city’s Peace and Justice Commission who granted permits for the parade, was unavailable for comment Sunday.

Berkowitz said he was angered by the ban on beer.

“Berkeley used to be a bastion for liberal ideas and freedom,” Berkowitz said. “Now we have to fight for our freedom. We are going to keep doing (the parade). After all, who’s gonna’ fight for our right to party?”

Some residents, such as Berkeley resident Irv Staats, make watching the parade an annual tradition. Staats said he comes to enjoy “the art cars and the absolute lunacy of some of the floats.”

Participants also expressed enthusiasm for the parade’s attractions.

“It went slow enough and the people in the parade intermingled,” said Colleen O’Brien, who had a float in the parade. “The people from the library started dancing with the techno guy on the bicycle.”

Councilmember Kriss Worthington marched at the head of the parade with members of Grandmothers for Peace International, a group that opposes war and nuclear weapons.

Despite his disappointment at the lack of beer at the parade, Berkowitz said there was “more volunteer participation, which is really what it’s about.”

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