Chanting "Happy Birthday Fairyland," two children and their grandmother at the parade Children's Fairyland's 75th birthday bash. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.
Children’s Fairyland is turning 75 and kicked off the birthday celebration with a parade.
At 9:30am on Labor Day, September 1, bubble-blowing fairies with wings of all ages and sizes marched side-by-side with puppeteers and unicorns from the 19th St BART Station on Broadway to the Fairy Gates on Grand Avenue.
Along the route to the waters of Lake Merritt, Fairyland and BART staff led the procession down the hill as they chanted, “1-2 3-4-5, Fairyland is 75!” and “Let’s go Fairyland, Let’s go!”
Mayor Barbara Lee greeted the cavalcade in front of the wizard hat-wearing BARTMobile miniature BART train car parked near the park entrance.
There were so many children lined around the boot-shaped house, but Fairyland knew what to do. Inside the 10-acre park, the birthday bash featured a bilingual puppet show, Prescott Circus performers, and the sounds of DJ Lance Rock from “Yo Gabba Gabba.”
The nation’s first storybook park, Children’s Fairyland opened on September 2, 1950.
Children’s Fairyland staff lead a parade to the 75th birthday bash in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Ferry riders joined fairies during the parade to the 75th birthday celebration for Children’s Fairyland. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.A child blasts bubbles at a giant Oakland Roots soccer ball during the parade to the 75th birthday celebration for Children’s Fairyland. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Danielle Anderson-Craig, author, poet, and copywriter for Children’s Fairyland, spreads her wings along the parade route to the 75th birthday bash in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz. Hundreds joined a parade to Children’s Fairyland to celebrate the storybook park’s 75th year in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Hundreds joined a parade to Children’s Fairyland to celebrate the storybook park’s 75th year in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Tionte and Nneke Okobo sprayed bubbles along the parade route to Children’s Fairyland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz. Keiyana Arnold, the “Ferry Godmother,” grants wishes at the Children’s Fairyland 75th birthday bash in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Three stilt walkers with the Prescott Circus at the Children’s Fairyland 75th birthday celebration. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.A juggler with the Prescott Circus at the Children’s Fairyland 75th birthday celebration. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee greets the cavalcade at the Fairy Gates of Children’s Fairyland at the 75th birthday bash in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee greets puppets and puppeteers at entrance of Children’s Fairyland during the 75th birthday celebration. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Brie Yarbrough of the San Francisco Puppet Guild at the Fairy Gates during Children’s Fairyland 75th birthday bash in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz. Children play beneath a parachute at the Children’s Fairyland 75th birthday bash in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.A child beneath the shoe-house at the entrance of Children’s Fairyland at the September 1 75th birthday bash. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.Hundreds attended the 75th birthday bash for Children’s Fairyland in Oakland on September 1. Photo by Rasheed Shabazz.
Rasheed Shabazz is a multimedia storyteller. He is a journalist, educator, urban planner, and historian. He is director of Oakland Voices' Community Journalism Program.
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