Puppet parade aims to unite West Phila.

It's not every day that Walnut Street gets confused with Sesame Street, but it might happen this Saturday when the Spiral Q Puppet Theater hosts its annual city parade and pageant, "Peoplehood."

West Philadelphia will be overrun by thousands of people from all walks of life uniting in an effort to create and embrace community, said Tracy Broyles, the executive director of the theater.

"Our whole mission is to explore what it means to be a community together in Philadelphia," Broyles said. "The parade itself acts as a vehicle for diverse groups to come together for a united purpose."

The Spiral Q Puppet Theater is a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia that uses puppets to mobilize communities and promote social action.

They present shows and support parades throughout the area to promote these goals. Puppets are used because "they are big and beautiful and fun, and everybody can make them affordably at all levels," Broyles said.

Al Brown is the senior vice president of the Point Breeze Performing Arts Center, which runs an after-school program in which Spiral Q works with children to make puppets that appear in the parade.

"I think it's important that kids get a chance to do it because it's in their own neighborhood and because they get a sense of pride in showing off something they create," Brown said.

The Peoplehood parade is the theater's biggest event of the year. It is co-sponsored by various community groups and runs from the Paul Robeson House through West Philadelphia to Clark Park, where the theater will present its pageant afterward.

Frances Aulston, the executive director of the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, is involved with the Peoplehood parade.

"We're also advocates for the arts and social change," Aulston said. "Spiral Q dovetails with our mission, and it brings people from all over the city to West Philadelphia and to our historic sites, like the Paul Robeson House."

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