The 10th Annual Wild Rumpus Parade & Spectacle getting underway today and tomorrow. The Foundry will host a kickoff party this evening. Saturday’s events include a 5K at 9 am. Founder Timi Conley says attendees are invited to gather in costume at Creature Comforts at 6 to 8:30 pm Saturday for the Rumpus Rally to taste a specially created beer, Dracula’s Blood, before heading to the parade.
“Then at 8:30 pm sharp, we’re going to start the Wild Rumpus Parade and Spectacle.," according to Timi Conley, creator of the event. “So that’s the centerpiece of the whole weekend, it’s an all-inclusive parade so everybody can show up in costume and be in the parade. You are the Wild Rumpus.”
Billed as "Georgia's own Halloween Mardi Gras," the two-day event has grown into a substantial fundraiser and is touted as “one of the biggest holiday festivals in the Southeast” by a Wild Rumpus press release.
“There’ll be a lot people showing up with drums, and people are welcome to bring drums and noisemakers themselves, it’s a totally family-oriented event. It’ll go from 8:30pm through the streets of downtown Athens, culminating with a big, wild dance party in front of City Hall in what we call Rumpus Land.”
The party will then move to the Georgia Theatre for the Royal Rumpus Ball.
For more information, a full schedule of events, parade map and list of performers, visit the Wild Rumpus website at wildrumpus.org. year proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Athens Area Homeless Shelter.
