By Ed Moreth 

Hot Springs rings in Year of the Rabbit

 

February 2, 2023

Ed Moreth

Trout Creek resident Travis Barrus takes the lead in the head of the dragon for the Hot Springs Lunar New Year Parade.

Freezing temperatures didn't stop a group of people from having a parade in Hot Springs Saturday. Even though it lasted less than 20 minutes, it was filled with color, character and enthusiasm.

Led by a 30-foot dragon, it was the annual Lunar New Year Parade in Hot Springs based on the Chinese zodiac new year with an assortment of animated creatures. This was the Year of the Rabbit, said Laura Lanfear, who dressed as a monkey leading a marching band and one of the main coordinators of the event.

More than 30 men, women and children participated in the parade, which started at Spring Street, went two blocks down Main Street to Wall Street and back to Spring Street. The dragon was manned by six people, with Travis Barrus of Trout Creek as the head. It was followed close by a giant blue ox, manned by Odin Max and Steven Yother of Hot Springs.

A makeshift band - Jolene Brackey on the kazoo, Curt Kruse on the trash can, Tree Sol on the vase and ice scraper, Keiko Cortez on the pail, and Ed Gibson on the saxophone - played the "Bunny Hop" through town and back. Each of the zodiac sign animals, except for the snake, were represented in the parade this year. There were more than a dozen rabbits in the procession, including Joy Stewart of Hot Springs, who had a custom made rabbit cap and a litter of eight baby bunnies pinned to her outfit. There was also an Energizer bunny in the group, another with multiple umbrellas, and one with a top hat.

A handful of volunteers have been putting on the lunar celebration for 12 years, though the first year was just a small dragon at Alameda's Hot Springs Retreat. The parade started the second year, this time with the bigger dragon, designed by Curt Kruse and made out of PVC poles, cloth, paper mache, cardboard fins, and a Mylar material for the round frame form. Kruse also designed the rooster, and at around 11 feet high, might have been the tallest zodiac animal in the parade. It was the second year for Jim Arestad of Hot Springs to man the rooster, which weighs about 30 pounds and is made from vinyl, wood, cloth feathers, and a backpack frame.

"People have been coming here for years from other towns just to be in the parade," said Laurie Gibson, one of the event organizers. Linny Gibson, also one of the event coordinators and the self proclaimed main "instigator," felt the parade went well and people had a lot of fun. She said a woman named Pearl, who no longer resides in Hot Springs, came up with the idea to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which the group changed to the Lunar New Year, to break up the winter months. Gibson was also dressed as a rabbit.

"We wanted to show people how hearty Hot Springs people are to have a parade in the winter is hearty," said Lanfear, who added that they usually start planning for the event months in advance and held workshops at the Nyah Grange to repair costumes and find out who wants to be which animal. She said that with all the snow and ice they were concerned this year about getting the ox from storage to the parade because they couldn't locate a trailer. She said they eventually carried the 13-foot ox body to Linny Gibson's art studio for repairs. The head's horns spread to about four feet wide, she added. "It's like a small school bus," said Lanfear. The ox was created in 2021 with a PVC pipe frame and covered with paper mache.

The majority of the parade participants were Hot Springs residents, but there were also people from Plains, Camas Prairie, Trout Creek, Lakeside, and Jerry and Becky Luther from Sandpoint, Idaho. Jerry went as a rabbit, but Becky deviated from the zodiac theme and went as Andora from the movie "Avatar" and was the tallest creature of the parade. "I don't really fit into the Chinese thing, but I love coming to Hot Springs," said Becky, who added that she and her husband have participated in the parade several times.

The 12 zodiac animals include: dragon, dog, monkey, horse, goat, ox, rooster, rat, pig, tiger, snake, and rabbit. Linny Gibson said they've done every zodiac animal, except the snake and did the dragon twice. She said they had only one ox and one dragon in those years, but several dogs in 2018 and lots of monkeys in 2016. Almost two dozen men, women and children dressed as rabbits this year. "You know how those rabbits multiply," said Laurie Gibson.

Ed Moreth

PIED PIPER – Monkey Laura Lanfear serves as a band leader pied piper with her kazoo with fellow parade coordinator Linny Gibson in this year's zodiac Year of the Rabbit animal.

The Lunar New Year started by China hundreds of years ago. It began this year on Sunday, January 22, and runs for two weeks. Last year was the year of the tiger. Riley Pavlich danced her way through town this year in a Tiger costume. Shelley Eisenrich and Loretta Abbott had a little trouble getting their rat over the snow and ice and into the street at the start of the parade, but got help from a bystander. This was Abbott's second year pushing the wheelchair while Eisenrich sat in the chair working the levers that turn the animal's head.

Despite the 11-degree temperature, more than 50 people showed up to watch the parade, including several that stepped out of businesses on Main Street to watch as it passed. Kruse said that even with the cold weather, the crowd seemed to be about the same as ones in the past. "The parade is really short. It's a little bit of craziness that comes and goes," said Kruse. "It's just a burst of craziness," he added. A potluck dinner was held at the Camas Hot Springs Senior Citizen Center following the parade.

 

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