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Small Town, Big Event

© Sandy McCollum

Once again, it was time for the Wearable Art Show in Ketchikan, Alaska. Adorned in a flashy black tux, Wes Loe emceed the occasion with a smooth deep voice that gave an air of class and fancy to the adults and children that entered.

Each year participants make outfits out of anything they choose - paper plates, tin can lids, plastic bags, beads, anything and everything, and then they show them off at the gala affair. It's the biggest Winter to-do in town, and it really shakes the cold off as everyone gets involved, either participating as a model, as an artist, photographer, or cheering fan in the audience.

Of course you can't have a yearly to-do without a theme, so this year it was "making waves", be they ocean waves, sound waves, hair waves, or waves in harmony. Living in a coastal town ensured the presence of many ‘human jellyfish' that sauntered down the runway to music befitting such a graceful creature, and they had to be my favorite with all the young'uns involved. Suddenly the music turned to a pounding beat and the lights lowered as the Man o' War ‘swam' through all the others.

Entries concerned all walks of life, from other cultures to junk food fanatics, and one outfit was even made with potato chip bags. A little Samurai tried to look so fierce, but found it difficult to stay in character as the big room filled with a collective "Awww," from an attentive audience.

The Ketchikan Charter School's fourth grade class made papier mache' hats into fish shapes and toured the runway with giant story books and numbers in their hands. The fifth grade class made a long salmon that took five of them to wear, and the paper-plate scales were the perfect texture for it's skin. This big fish ‘swam' down the runway after a little ‘minnow' that swam as fast as it could, and even though she was so small, she played a big part and acted like she was really afraid.

The mermaids were just as cute, and their choreographer deserves a medal for getting all those kids to perform so perfectly. They made puddles on the stage with glow-in-the-dark paint and then they skated around to the music in it, stomping accents of percussion that splashed the paint under black lights for a wonderful watery effect.

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