The Dragon Con Parade took over Peachtree Street on Saturday morning in an exuberant celebration of fandom. Two Atlanta Police Department motorcycles, accompanied by a Captain America cosplayer on a third motorcycle, led the Dragon Con Parade banner up Peachtree Street. Behind them came a dazzling, joyous array of fannish groups.
The Dragon Queen Corvette, the HALO 405th Infantry, and the Loyal Order of the Ribbon led the parade. Behind them came representatives of this year’s Dragon Con charity partner, The Arthritis Foundation.
The parade grand marshals, the Fraggle Rock puppets, rode in a convertible and waved to the crowd. Right after them, in a nod to an enduring classic, came Elliott and ET. The Puppetry Track members, also carrying waving puppets followed the band.
One of the largest units was an army of Deadpools, including a standard brown T-Rex Deadpool and a Marriott carpet one. The Marriott carpet pattern appeared again in the Cult of the Marriott Carpet unit a short time later. It included stormtroopers, a T-Rex, and a truck decorated with the carpet pattern. The truck flew a Marriott carpet flag. The unit also had a carpet-uniformed marching band and a flag team wielding blue, red, and yellow flags.
Netherworld, a longtime sponsor of Dragon Con, brought a large truck with its bed full of skeletons and monsters. Another longtime Dragon Con group, the Lifesouth Bloodmobile, also had a sizeable unit.
Toward the end of the parade, the Skeptics Track group included actor John de Lancie, astronaut Cady Coleman, and actors Courtney Taylor and Ash Sroka from Mass Effect.
In keeping with Dragon Con tradition, the gigantic Star Wars unit, including a large contingent of Mando Mercs, marched ahead of Futurama’s Robot Santa to end the parade as the crowd cheered.
