While You’re In: Dress your pet, see Shakespeare in the Park, tour the world via radio
Dog (and cat, and horse …) days
It’s no surprise that the Pet Parade — produced beginning this year not by The Olympian but by the Hands On Children’s Museum — won’t be rolling, strolling and barking its way through the downtown streets in this strange summer. Instead, the 91st annual parade, now part of the museum’s Summer Splash Festival, will be produced online as a virtual parade. To participate, those whose pets are willing to dress up must register and submit a photo by Sunday, Aug. 16. The parade video will stream live on Facebook at 10 a.m. Aug. 22. The museum, at 414 Jefferson St. NE, Olympia, is also honoring the beloved Olympia tradition of turning animals into superheroes, space explorers, etc., by offering pet costume making all month long. Museum capacity is limited right now, and reservations are a must. Of course, you can’t bring your pets along for a fitting, so if you want to get elaborate, take measurements at home.
‘Much Ado’ about Central Park
New York City’s Central Park is one of the world’s largest urban parks, with attractions including a zoo and a multitude of performances and other events. The park is open, but this year’s big summer events are happening online if they’re happening at all. The Public Theater’s beloved Shakespeare in the Park, which is free and showcases stars of stage and screen, was canceled, but PBS’s “Great Performances” is offering a recording of last summer’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” with an all-Black cast led by Danielle Brooks of “Orange Is the New Black.” The production updates the bard’s romantic comedy for this era of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. “The comedy of negotiation and reconciliation is one we need to experience right now: the kind that can still hold out hope, despite whatever war looms beyond the beautiful trees, for an engaged electorate, a fair vote, swift justice and a marriage of equals,” Jesse Green wrote in a New York Times review. Also among the online offerings from the park are the first virtual Museum Mile Festival and an array of past puppet shows from the park’s Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre. The Swedish Cottage page offers not only videos but coloring pages and inspiring instructions for making a unicorn sock puppet that might be just the thing for your next Zoom meeting.
Travel through the airwaves
At the moment, international travel is either complicated and risky or actually impossible. But you can circle the globe anytime via Radio Garden. One of the joys of the Amsterdam-based Radio Garden is getting totally random. At 10:38 a.m. Tuesday, Puls-Radio FM 103.8 in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia, was playing a song about Pablo Escobar. (Seriously, Escobar’s name was repeated over and over.) But you can also explore some of the site’s favorites and picks of popular stations in various countries. One to try: the soothing Birdsong Radio of London. Chances are, it will be your cat’s new favorite, too. If you’re looking for a local take on world music, KAOS-FM’s “Spin the Globe,” hosted by Scott Stevens of Olympia, is available online while KAOS is closed. New shows go up Fridays, and you can listen to past shows anytime. Give a listen to the July 31 show, a fun exploration of the intersection of world music and Western classical.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore can’t wait to watch “Much Ado,” and she will do it as soon as she finishes bingeing on “The Good Place,” which is as mind-bending as the news coming out of Washington, D.C., and a whole lot more fun to watch. She discusses local arts, entertainment and more with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:45 AM.