Robots on parade

R2-D2 and C3PO were nowhere to be found, but a park full of tiny androids invaded Centennial Park Sunday afternoon for the second annual robot parade.

It’s an idea that germinated last year, almost by accident, when organizer Nathan Allard was trying to get out of building his son a robot costume.

“I did the lazy thing and said, no, no, no. Then I said, we’ll do it at the parade. And he said, ‘Oh, what, the robot parade?’ And I said, yeah, the robot parade. So we just picked a date and it became an event, I guess.”

About 15 children and their parents turned out a year ago, but the idea certainly caught the fancy of Thunder Bay’s pro-robot crowd.
“I don’t even know how many there were today. Double that, maybe? There were about 30 robots today. It’s pretty cool. Everybody’s having fun and it’s neat to see.”

Kathy Boczek brought her two youngsters, five-year-old Foster and three-year-old Leah, out to enjoy a nice day in the park.
“They love being outside with their friends and they love doing stuff with their family. And we thought it would be a fun, nice thing to do with their friends.”

Mom and dad didn’t need much encouragement to take part.

“I think we had more fun than the kids. We were up until 11 o’clock finishing the  costumes last night. Leah was a robot princess and Foster was the big robot with a big caution symbol on his face.”