Each Spring in Olympia, Washington people of all ages don elaborate costumes they have created to transform themselves into representatives of the plant and animal kingdoms and take to the streets. To the uninitiated, it may not be clear what this procession is about – there are no words in chants, pamphlets or banners that narrate, cajole or preach. There are no information booths or petitions to sign. You may be handed a piece of chalk for decorating the street, but remember, no slogans. Drumming and dancing are encouraged, pets and motorized vehicles are not.

It’s the Procession of the Species and its goal is to give the natural world a greater presence in our streets. Since it started in 1995, it has grown to become the largest annual Earth Day event in the Northwest. Last year 2,500 people joined in the Procession and another 30,000 watched. It has become a defining event for the city of Olympia, providing a welcome annual boost to the local economy.

Procession of the Species is a collaborative effort spearheaded by Eli Sterling, director of Earthbound Productions. Eli was a carpenter, community activist, and world traveler before he settled in Olympia to study environmental issues. While in graduate school, he remembers an outing with classmates that opened his eyes. They had gone to the shore of Puget Sound to take in the sun and the view of the Olympic Mountains. “We were just hanging out, it was a gorgeous day. And right next to us on the shoreline was a sign with a skull and crossbones saying, ‘Don’t eat the shellfish. Water polluted’.”

“I realized that our icons of the natural world – gorgeous snowcapped mountains, sunny blue skies – are not enough to motivate us to a greater level of responsibility.” Disturbed by this realization, Eli was inspired to take action. He felt that cultural engagement with the natural world was the missing link. “There’s no place to reengage being awestruck by the natural world inside our present human culture.”

Eli set out to change that, forming Earthbound Productions to produce media programs that challenge cultural norms. “I did radio and then I did television shows on the public access station, including a live call-in environmental talk show that won a lot of awards. After doing five years of media, producing 230 programs with hundreds of guests, it was very clear to me that we didn’t have control of our language. Someone else can take the words and spin them around.”

“I realized that we have to get away from our ‘talk show’ mentality of communicating and start moving into an active celebration of community and culture. I wanted to present something that brings people out of their homes, something that engages people in collaborative relationships.” Eli acknowledges, “They’re not new concepts. If you read environmental writers from Annie Dillard to Thomas Berry, all of these people say this is what needs to happen. They call it the new cultural paradigm: the ‘mutual community with the natural world.’ But no one lays out a blueprint of what it looks like. What do we need to make it happen?”

Drawing on contacts from the media work he had done, Eli gathered a group of volunteers together and laid the groundwork for the first Procession. “We got 20 people in the room, at the very start. And that expanded to probably about 60 people.” They thought of it as an Earth Day event, but from the start they aligned themselves with another community event, Olympia’s Spring Arts Walk that features visual and performing artists from around the region. “The goal of the Procession is not only to increase environmental ethics and actions, it is to support and help all the other organizations in the community, from social service groups to local businesses.”

This goal has been very effectively met. There are several local businesses whose largest grossing evening has become the night of the Procession. The Arts Walk, which used to be a one-evening event, has been able to expand to a two-day event, thanks to the draw of the Procession. Every parade participant brings two cans of food as their registration fee, which is donated to the local food bank. “We want the first act of everyone who comes to the Procession to be one of giving, to remind them that this isn’t about entertainment. This is about sharing your creative spirit.”

The Procession is a sensory delight, with participants of all ages wearing feathered masks and animal headdresses. With no written words, the Procession relies on the languages of art, music and dance to carry forth its message. Some people carry giant yellow jacket puppets, life-sized giraffes, papier-mache salmon, ladybug banners, and even a 40-foot long rattlesnake. In 2001, there were 19 music and dance groups that drew on influences from West Africa, Brazilian Samba and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Procession passes viewers on the street in an uninterrupted swirl of color and sound. Says Eli, “It’s an act of community very similar to what one would experience in a ceremony. People are brought to tears. You just can’t get your senses around it. There’s no gimmick.”

While the Procession is deeply philosophical, its production requires months of practical planning and organizing. Seven weeks prior to the Procession, volunteers begin presenting dozens of art workshops and special events to help people with their creations. There is only a minimal donation requested and nobody is turned away for lack of funding. The Procession Art Studio is currently run out of an unused school that had been subject to vandalism; now most surfaces are adorned with spectacular art.

Contrary to what you might expect, Eli doesn’t see the Procession as a kid’s event. “This is an adult event where kids are welcome. When kids see all these adults dancing, playing music, and doing art in a public setting, they think, ‘Oh! That’s what adults do. I don’t have to be embarrassed by that.’”

“At Earthbound Productions, we want to place a different mirror in front of who we are as people. Right now people walk into our urban areas and we see that red light, that stop sign, that building, that traffic jam, and that litter over here. That’s reflecting back to us who we are. We’re extraordinarily visual. We haven’t changed biologically. And our advertising plays off of that. So we’ve also got to do something visual. So the Procession literally cover the streets in the urban corridor with a different visualization, which stimulates a different conversation.”

“Our consumer culture promotes a sequence: from Discern to Consume to Discard. The Procession counters that with a model that replaces discernment with imagination. That leads to creation and sharing. So we have two separate sequences: one (discern, consume, discard) which is what I call the entertainment model of consumption, and the other (imagine, create, share) is the cultural model of sharing. When you share, you inspire imagination. The major tenant of the Procession is that people are far more willing to protect that which we create than that which we consume.”

Citizens across the region have been inspired to create their own Procession of the Species, in Portland, Spokane, Bend, Ashland, Whidbey Island, and even tiny Twisp, Washington. Eli expects there will be 20 Processions across the country this spring. Earthbound Productions offers a ‘starter kit’ for those who want to make it happen in their own community that includes a video targeted for mayors. But Eli isn’t interested in controlling how the Procession unfolds in other places. “The goal is not to franchise it. The goal is to make it sort of like The Day of The Dead in South America. Each little village is doing their own thing. They’ve just seen it and they get inspired. Ultimately, it is a reflection of the people at hand.”

Putting on a Procession of the Species is, of course, no small undertaking. Says Eli, “It’s a huge commitment of time, a huge dedication of energy and intention. We are blessed with the understanding that what we are creating is essential. Organizers write to us and say, ‘This was the most phenomenal thing I’ve done in my life.’”

Funding the Procession every year is a challenge. Because of the crowd it draws, the local hotel/motel tax has been a significant source of support, as has the City of Olympia and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Eli dreams of finding a foundation willing to support Earthbound Productions in financially seeding other Processions. For now, he has reluctantly decided to try passing the hat during this year’s Procession.

But some things won’t change. Eli is firm about the no words rule. “You literally cannot win with words in our culture right now. And you certainly can’t win with little brochures.” He describes a conversation he had with someone who wanted to pass petitions at the Procession. “If every single petition you’ve ever signed succeeded, do you know what the world would look like? It would look like Procession Day. So on the one day that we actually don’t tell each other ‘this is what we want to have happen’, but we actually be what we want to happen, why would you bring in the petition?”

Eli intentionally doesn’t use the word ‘parade’ to describe the Procession, and not surprisingly, there is some thought behind that. “When people conquer, they parade; when people are liberated, they process.”

Contact
Procession of the Species
Earthbound Productions
Eli Sterling
P.O. Box 7192
Olympia, WA 98507
360.705.1087
www.procession.org
procession@olywa.net