Easter and Bonnets go together like Steel Magnolias. They are inextricably linked, like some force of nature. They are sometimes outrageous (think hurricane or tornadoes), sometimes understated (think global warming), but no mistake about it folks – they are there!
They lie await for an entire year… Waiting to be worn and for someone to take notice! Here in Minneapolis, sometime around 2005 a very small group of FABULOUS friends of mine decided to upend the tradition of wearing their exotic (albeit wonderful) custom-made bonnets to the Eagle Bolt Bar instead of to the Basilica on Easter morning. Well you know what they say about us Queers… Size matters! And the Easter Bonnet Parade was born.
This Sunday is – snow or no snow – Easter. It just so happens that Easter this year falls on the date of April 20th. That means it is 420! The subtext of the Easter Bonnet Parade is therefore Higher and Higher!
We have lost some of the original members. I think David O. Brown (who the parade is now named after) and Jeffery Matos will be smiling upon us as we don the new seasonal festive bonnets, (forgettable and unforgettable) to the Easter Bonnet Parade on Sunday at the Eagle Bolt Bar in downtown Minneapolis. If ever there was a Resurrection… THIS is it. Do NOT bring your tired old hat from yesteryear. Why do you think there is a Dollar Tree anyway? Get creative and pile it on… before they outlaw glue guns! 😉
The parade begins at 3pm sharp!
Bette Midler live at Cleveland from boy scholte on Vimeo.
Two of my dearest friends – and cast members of the original Listener’s Discretion Advised podcast – David and Jeffery have passed away since the beginnings of the tradition at the Eagle. I am absolutely positive they will be looking down (or up as the case may be) upon us and JUDGING every single bonnet. Bring on your best ladies!
We will try to dress to impress and honor you Jeff and David!