The May Day Parade and Festival is our Mardi Gras. Staged in Minneapolis since 1975 under the creative direction of the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater in Minneapolis' multiethnic Powderhorn neighborhood, the event is a raucous, ultra-colorful celebration of the return of the sun--spring warmth finally touching the frozen tundra hereabouts--as well as a chance for environmental and political groups to link spring's return to their causes. This year it was a particularly heartfelt celebration, coming on a 70-degree day after something like three major spring snowstorms and nearly unprecedented local weariness with winter.

Our lens guy Bill Kelley was at the parade, catching the color, earth-friendliness, and surreal fun.