EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Celebrating Eugene 29 years strong, a new route for the Eugene Celebration on Saturday with its annual parade. The Eugene Celebration's parade hit Pearl and High Streets Saturday, August 27th, 2011, between 11th and 18th Avenues for the first time. The parade route was moved this year due to heavy construction downtown.
About 80 different groups took part in the festivities, bringing at least 500 marches.
Capturing Eugene's unique... and sometimes random character, some of the crowd favorites included the folks from Sundance Natural Foods, who were all dressed as fruits.
The Oregon Duck and Chewbacca with his Star Wars pals also captured a lot of attention, along with a differet role for Congressman Peter DeFazio. DeFazio trailed a giant slug character on Saturday, pushed a barrel full of “slime.”
One group making their name heard, the Knotty Knitters of Eugene who put their own yarn creations on public place and art pieces throughout the area.
“Eugene has been really welcoming for us in doing this, we've had a lot of encouragement from the community as well as public officials,” says Maiya Becker of the Knotty Knitters.
Participants say there's a lot to celebrate in Eugene this year.
“I feel like a lot of things we've been working on are really coming to fruition right now. And it makes us all very very happy because this has been a tough time for everybody and we just want to do everything we can to help everyone,” says Mayor Kitty Piercy.
The Eugene Celebration lasts through Sunday. All of the proceeds from the event go to Eugene Springfield Habitat for Humanity.
