Community Comments

Do you have a Procession experience you'd like to share? Drop us a line or five. Your stories and views are the heart of this celebration!

First, let me congratulate you on an extraordinary event. What you've created over the last 15 years is really quite remarkable. It's truly invigorating in every sense - bringing out the gifts in individuals and community - and, whether they choose to formally recognize it or not, your gift to the region and the planet as well. Best of luck and heartfelt good wishes for an event that must surely continue and flourish.
-- Jean Sherrard, 4/27/09, Photojournalist - "Washington State Then and Now"

Passion, time, inspiration, creativity, faith, persistence, love, belief, courage, joy, fire, determination and all things that make the Procession happen. I love living in this city!
-- Sandy DeShaw, Visitor Services, WA State Dept. of General Administration

Please don't ever give up on the Procession. I suspect there is nothing you could do in your life that means so much to people, nor has effected so much positive change.
-- Steve Shanewise, The Coot Company

I was really touched by the Procession this year. It made me feel beautiful. It is not often that I get to feel beautiful. This really, really made a difference in my life.
-- RD Mandry, Overeaters Anonymous

I love this happy time! Let me buy supplies for the creature people!
-- Sr. Mary O'Brien, Saint Martin's College

Dear Procession magicians of wonder, what joy it was watching the kids chalk up the streets and see the wonder in their eyes as this incredible Procession passed by! Seeing people they knew was even more fun!
-- Melissa Seidentop, Shelton

Doing a super job! Best thing that has happened to Olympians!
-- Bill Radcliffe, Olympia

One thing I learned from my experience as an intern with the Procession is that the energy we put out into the world never dissipates, it has an impact on the world as a whole. Though the Procession is in no way a protest movement, it is at its heart a call for peace and unity.
-- Kelsey Martin-Keating, "Taking it to the streets," Cooper Point Journal, 4/20/03

The Procession, a celebration of the natural world, included the young and the old, the affluent as well as the adrift, families in whole and artists in solitaire. Our community, complete, in cooperative motion, celebrated dignity and respect for each other and all things alive.
-- Dawn Marcelle, letter to the editor, The Olympian, 5/6/03

A festive mood engulfed the downtown community that peaked with Saturday's immensely popular Procession of the Species, a uniquely Olympia event that celebrates nature and community. Organizers summed up the Procession: "It's a benchmark for this community, about who we are and how we relate to each other." A terrific time was had by all.
-- Editorial, Festivities were a big hit, The Olympian, 5/3/03

Participating in the Procession for the first time with my child was like a baptism--following that narrow channel of glowing energy into the arms of our community.
-- Stephanie Johnson, cultural services division

Since moving here five years ago, the Procession is one of the things about Olympia that brings the most joy to my family!
-- Susan Ott, Olympia

Thank you again everyone for sticking it out for this year's Procession. Maybe after so many years in the same place doing the same thing, even if it is magical, it just becomes a form of work--but the Procession and the good it does is a work worth doing!
-- Barbara Metcalf, Tumwater

The Procession is magic that spins miracles among our community. Thank you for gracing our lives with the special healing energy it gives us all!
-- Dorbe Holden, Lacey

Procession makes it safe and welcome to pour out respect and affection for, and awe of, the trillions of beings whose lives make ours possible. It is sanity-saving, to be out of the closet as someone who loves this earth and all its species! Including the ones without fur or faces or even eyes or cell nuclei!
-- Misha Gale-Sinex, Olympia

As a first-year staff person, I did not know what to expect, I found I had fun, met people, and had an amazing and confidence building learning experience.
-- Kelly Warren, Olympia

How can one quickly process all the sights, sounds, emotions, friendships, community, and commitment, creative energy, caring, wonder and magic that is the Procession? As a group, and also as individuals, we know that only through our relationship to the natural world can we recover that which is true within us and, through the discovery of that truth, find our spiritual direction.
-- Shannon Wheeler, Tumwater

The Procession is a part of me that nestles deep in my heart. It will travel with me wherever I go, with whoever I meet, and with everything I learn.
-- Alithea O'Dell, Avanti H.S., Olympia

You at Earthbound and your crew have done a wonderful job of keeping the Procession fresh and engaging for eight years. Congratulations!
-- Brian Baird, Member of Congress

I feel privileged to be in the company of magical people making magic all around.
-- Monica Mestas, Olympia

...and the chalk art was amazing! A beautiful day for a wonderful event!
-- Melissa Seidentop, Olympia

What an excellent procession! I am continually amazed by this community event.
-- Chris Maun, Olympia

I have landed, but my head is still in the clouds. This last week with the Procession folk and the Procession itself are now treasured memories.
-- Shari Trnka, Delaware

The purpose of the Procession is much deeper than creating artwork and processing in the streets once a year. My son and I have created art pieces and participated in the Procession for several years. It's one of the most profound inspirational experiences I have ever had: creating my art in a huge colorful art studio, working alongside artists, and sharing the Procession with my artistic son.
-- Paula Rudberg Lowe, Olympia

I had fun coloring and dancing like a butterfly.
-- Aisha Kollo, 1st grade, Lacey E.S.

An amazing expression of art with heart--vibrating with love for a beautiful planet!
-- Procession Expressions Exhibit, 2001 Fall Arts Walk

I remember seeing the wolf pack for the first time--it sent a chill up my spine!
-- Procession Expressions Exhibit, 2001 Fall Arts Walk

The Procession of the Species--humanity at its best.
-- Procession Expressions Exhibit, 2001 Fall Arts Walk