Festifools celebrates 10 years

April Fool’s Day 2016 was fitting timing for the 10th anniversary of Festifools, a colorful, comical parade of papier-mâché characters conceived by Mark Tucker, art director at the U-M Lloyd Hall Scholars Program (LHSP).

Inspired by the papier-mâché floats of the carnival celebration in Viareggio, Tuscany, Tucker worked with former student Shoshana Hurand to develop an event that would bring people of different backgrounds together to create public art. Originally working with a class of non-art majors, Tucker went on to recruit other students and community members looking for a chance to be creative and meet new people. Now hundreds show up to promenade along Main Street in Ann Arbor, Mich., with their hand-made creations, some almost 15 feet tall. A companion evening event, called Fool Moon, snakes through the downtown area lit by similarly crafted luminaria.

Festifools is now supported by the university with two LHSP classes and a 2,500-square-foot facility at which students can construct their creations. The community is also invited to drop-in workshops where they can get hands-on help from some of the region’s most talented public art artists.