RNC DIY!: Liberty Parade promises liberty, Missile Dick Chicks

What does liberty look and sound like? Does it come in the form of a grass-covered bike or an enormous phallic symbol? Is it a giant polar bear puppet that serves as a reminder of global warming? An 11-person bike made from cannibalized cars? Or since it’s State Fair time, maybe it’s Dick Cheney’s head on a stick? At the Liberty Parade along Nicollet Mall on August 31, liberty can be anything you want it to be.

As tens of thousands of protesters plan for events around the Republican National Convention, a nonpartisan group is organizing the art and music parade and festival that asks you to bring "your freak to the streets" and celebrate democracy and civil engagement on the eve of the RNC. Applications for the Liberty Parade have been extended till August 23, which still gives you plenty of time to muster up some liberty-and-justice-for-all inspiration for a parade float, art project or costume.

A part of The UnConvention, which includes art-inspired and thought-provoking events throughout the Twin Cities during the RNC, the organizers of the Liberty Parade shelled out $11,000 to get a permit for the parade (which begins at 1:00 pm on August 31) and subsequent rock show in Loring Park, featuring bands such as STNNNG and Dillinger Four.

Scheduled to appear in the parade are the Missile Dick Chicks, who hilariously mock sexism, consumerism, and opiates for the masses and wear, well, missile dicks, and the Backbone Campaign’s Procession for the Future, which is filled with awesome puppetry, pageantry, music, and spectacle to express what liberty can look like during what Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip-Hop Caucus calls the "the 21st century’s lunch counter moment."