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The
Parade Company offers studio tours and costumes for Halloween rental
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
A
look inside the Parade Company studios at 9500 Mt. Elliott St. in
Detroit.
DETROIT
-- Most
people don't know that the Parade Company studios are open for tours
all year long. Yes, it's true! Most parents typically buy their
Halloween costumes for their kids. However, there is another option.
The Parade Company also has costumes available for renting. In addition,
the Hob Nobble Gobble fundraiser has been moved up one week earlier
and it will take place in a new location.
"We
offer year-round tours of our studio," said Renee Rodriguez,
The Parade Company's director of volunteer and tour services. "People
can come from the community and they can come see all of our floats
up close and personal and learn what it takes to put on a parade,
how we build floats and all of the secrets. We get a lot of field
trips and we have all ages that come through ranging from nursery
school kids all the way up to senior citizens and Red Hat groups."
Studio tours
cost $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for all children under
age 18. To book a tour, visit www.theparade.org
or call (313) 923-7400. Special prices are offered for large
groups and for schools.
"We
have volunteer opportunities all year long," Rodriguez added.
"Specifically in the fall, we're gearing up for our busy season
with the parade right around the corner. We have opportunities to
come in help paint and build the floats, sew costumes and then for
the parade itself, there's opportunities to volunteer to be in the
parade, wear costumes, march with the bands, all kinds of fun things."
Over 2,000
volunteers are needed to help make America's Thanksgiving Parade
a success. The director of volunteer and tour services says she
needs another 400 volunteers to come forward. However, it will not
be a problem because they always get what they need. To become a
volunteer, download and print the application at www.theparade.org.
"We
were working on painting stuff, putting the primer on," said
Carol Rivetto, a volunteer artist from Warren, Mich. "Now,
we're sanding down these styrofoam flowers so they come nice and
smooth, then they're primed and painted. Later on, we're going to
be working on, which I really enjoy, is preparing the paper mache
heads and painting them. Everybody is so nice and friendly here.
What I like about it is when you volunteer, there's no specific
day that you have to come or time. It's whatever is convenient for
you and they always have work to do."
There will
be five or six new floats in America's Thanksgiving Parade this
year. Volunteer artists are already hard at work on them right now.
All of the Parade Company's floats are bright and vibrant with many
multiple colors on them.
"We
both started three years ago," said Barbara Timm, a volunteer
artist from Sterling Heights, Mich. "That's where we met and
we became good friends. I did the same thing today so it's kind
of fun from the start to finish. It's challenging to do that. It's
nice to see the outcome. We never run out of work. But that's the
nice thing about it because you do different stuff. It's very interesting
and it's fun."
The Parade
Company has 2,000 costumes available for Halloween rental. Costumes
are priced at under $40 and require a security deposit that will
be refunded when the costume is brought back. To rent a costume,
call Arlene King at (313) 432-7835 or visit www.theparade.org
for more info.
"They
start off at $25 and go up," said Arlene King, The Parade Company's
director of costuming. "We have all types of costumes, fruit,
pirates, you name it, we have it. They can go on the internet and
pick a costume then they would have to come down and fill out the
application. If you rent it for Halloween, we ask that you have
it back by the beginning of November if we're going to use it in
the parade. We do a lot of fruit costumes now, fairytales."
Hob
Nobble Gobble moves to a new location on a new date
In previous
years, the Hob Nobble Gobble charity fundraiser was held on the
day before America's Thanksgiving Parade on the Michigan State Fairgrounds.
This year, it will be held on Saturday, Nov. 20, one week before
the parade kicks off. The Hob Nobble Gobble will be held inside
Ford Field in downtown Detroit.
"We're
excited about the date change and the venue change as well,"
Rodriguez explained. "Especially since it's a Saturday, I think
people won't have to rush as much to get their Thanksgiving meals
prepared and that kind of thing. We're expecting a really good turnout.
It should be good this year."
There are
three levels of ticket pricing for the Hob Nobble Gobble. The benefit
ticket starts at $200 for children and goes up to $350 for adults
or $3,500 for a table of 10. The patron ticket begins at $500 and
goes up to $5,000 for a table of 10. The superstar ticket starts
at $1,000 and goes up to $10,000 for a table of 10. All proceeds
benefit the parade itself.
For
more information on The Parade Company, visit www.theparade.org
or call (313) 923-7400.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
The
Spirit of Detroit float sponsored by Ilitch Holdings, Inc.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
The
Detroit Jazz Festival float
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
Two
paper mache clowns
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
These
are some of the costumes available for renting.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
More
costumes available for Halloween rental
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