art on wheels

Last weekend was the Art Car Parade in Houston. We didn't go, didn't go even when we were in the city. We don't go due to our general aversion to huge crowds and huge traffic jams. When it takes longer to find a place to park, trek to the event and then make it home through the massive exodus of traffic than the length of time spent at the event it sort of takes the thrill out of the day.

The Art Car Parade started in 1988 with only 40 cars. 'Cars' is a loosely held term as it includes roller skates, bicycles, motor scooters, golf carts, floats, really anything on wheels, as well as actual cars. We did go to the first few all those years ago but now it attracts 250+ entries from all over the US, Canada and Mexico and crowds of a quarter of a million people (that's 250,000 for those of us who are mathematically challenged). The first Art Car Parade in Houston was, I believe, the first of it's kind and although there are now similar events across the country, the one here is the largest of it's kind. You can read more about the history of the Art Car Parade here. 

Because so many of the entries are from Houston, it's not unusual to occasionally see one when you are driving around town throughout the year. You can however, see any number of them at one time at the Art Car Museum which happens to be in my Houston neighborhood. It's one of my favorite places to go with the grandkids. There's a nice slide show of 18 images of some of the art cars here.

Here's a sampling of cars that were in this year's parade. All images via the Orange Show's website photo album page. If these aren't enough for you, go here for over 300 images.